Give Me Love Like Her
by thatsanotherlovestory
Summary: A Klaroline Valentine's Day love story: With Tyler gone and her friends preoccupied with their search for the cure, Caroline feels more unloved and alone than ever. To distract herself, Caroline throws herself into planning a Valentine's Day event so that she and her fellow students can celebrate the love in their lives, only to realize that she had love in her life all along.
1. Part One: Love Actually

Happy Valentine's Day, sweethearts!

Since I really love Valentine's Day and I really love Klaroline, I wanted to write a lighthearted love story to celebrate both of those loves. Fair warning, though: when I say this story is lighthearted, that's exactly what I mean. This story is the written equivalent of cotton candy: sweet, fluffy, and pink. I really love it though, and I hope you will, too.

This story takes a sharp turn away from canon as soon as Klaus steps off the Gilberts' porch in episode 4x14, which for the purposes of this story (though the airdates don't exactly match up, they're similar enough, I think) takes place on the last day of January.

The title of the story comes from Ed Sheeran's song, "Give Me Love," which I consider Klaus and Caroline's song. The title for the first part comes from the movie of the same name. I claim no ownership over the song or the movie (though I do own copies of both), or any other songs mentioned in this story, nor do I claim ownership over the characters or storylines of _The Vampire Diaries_.

Happy Valentine's Day, again, and happy reading!

* * *

Caroline watched as Klaus stalked off of the Gilberts' porch, clearly disgruntled that she wasn't overwhelmed with gratitude for all of the 'kindness, forgiveness, pity,' that he claimed to have shown on her behalf. She felt oddly cold as he left, as though her 'strong, ageless' body had realized that she was alone. Tyler was gone, her friends had left on their search for the cure without inviting her, or even informing her that they were leaving. Caroline supposed that in her loneliness, she would have settled for Klaus's company to soften the blow of having been abandoned by someone who was supposed to love her, again. He would probably understand, since they were 'the same,' as he told her. She shook her head to clear it, ordering herself to stop dwelling on the things Klaus had said to her the past few days.

 _And what he didn't say,_ an evil little voice in her head taunted her.

But she couldn't think about that now. After she had sent Tyler away so that Klaus wouldn't kill him, she couldn't stomach the thought of overanalyzing what it meant that Klaus hadn't denied it when she'd said that she knew he was in love with her.

She couldn't think about how she'd meant it when she said that she'd said that there was a part of Klaus that was human, and that she'd seen it. She couldn't think about how, as she'd said it, she'd realized how she'd enjoyed spending time with the human Klaus that he seemed to allow only her to see, as stories of hummingbirds and humanity, promises to take her anywhere in the world she wanted to go, so that she could see all that the world had to offer, and dancing, and champagne, and park benches, and all the times he'd selflessly saved her started flashing from her memory to the forefront of her mind. She couldn't think about how much she'd meant it when she said that she'd found herself wishing she could forget all of the horrible things he had done, because she knew, she'd seen, that he was so much more than that. She couldn't think about how she knew that he was capable of love, and worthy of salvation. She couldn't think about how much he loved her.

What she could do, though, was get up from this porch swing and leave the house where she had almost died, where Klaus's brother had died, where her relationship with Tyler ended. The first thing she would do would be to stop by the Lockwood mansion and make sure Tyler was gone. She would just have to hope that Klaus hadn't had the same idea.

When she burst through the front door of Tyler's house, he was nowhere to be found, but there were four suitcases sitting in the foyer. The sound of footsteps on the staircase made Caroline turn towards the noise, ready to strike.

"Calm down, will you? It's just me," Tyler's werewolf friend Hayley said.

"What are you doing here? You have to go, it isn't safe here anymore," Caroline told her.

She didn't particularly like Hayley, mostly because she was fairly certain that the werewolf had developed feelings for Tyler while she was helping him break his sire bond, but she couldn't in good conscience let the other girl die.

"Yeah, I know, Tyler called me. He told me to pack up our things and meet him—" Hayley paused. "Somewhere. He said not to tell anyone where. I'm on my way out now. Don't worry about Tyler, Caroline. I'll take care of him," Hayley finished, biting her lip.

She lifted two of the suitcases and put them in the trunk of Tyler's car, then stacked the other two in the backseat before Caroline could think of a reply or offer to help.

"I really have to go. Was there something you wanted me to tell Tyler for you?" Hayley offered condescendingly, with a tilt of her head.

"Take care. Both of you," was all Caroline could say.

Hayley nodded once and got into the car, reversing out of the driveway quickly, without looking back at Caroline, who lingered in the doorway of the mansion for a few minutes after she left, contemplating where the revelation that Hayley was accompanying Tyler on the run left her. Then she trudged home to her empty house and hope that the mess that was her life now would look better after a good night's sleep.

~love~

Klaus had gone straight home and sequestered himself in his art studio, pouring himself a drink and putting a new canvas on his easel. He started angrily slashing black paint across it without care for what he was painting, just using the paint to reflect the turmoil inside of him at that moment.

He was furious.

Not because he wouldn't get to kill Tyler as he had planned, but because he had once again let Caroline Forbes weasel her way past his defenses and use his weakness for her to get her way. Because she made him weak. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and with one look, one plea, she had derailed his plans for revenge against an insurgent who stole his loyal followers from him. He had granted mercy for Caroline's sake, that she had asked for, for Tyler's sake.

Despite her claims of mercy and compassion, Klaus knew that Caroline would never plead for his life the way she begged him to spare Tyler. Contrary to what she thought, he did not relish the idea of killing his first successful hybrid, in large part because he knew how much it would hurt her.

But he had hurt her, as recently as the previous day.

He had been hurt over the death of the little brother who had somehow always managed to overcome whatever obstacle lay in his path, and never lost his humor. Kol took nothing seriously, Elijah took everything too seriously, and Klaus, for all his insistence that he needed no one, didn't know how he could keep himself balanced without both of them.

So he had lashed out at the only person who wasn't related to him who had ever seen anything human in him. Who might, given the right circumstances, be able to see past the (halfhearted at best) show of threats and apathy to see the brother who had once again failed to keep his siblings safe. And instead of giving her the opportunity to see that side of himself that he allowed very few people to see, he had attacked her, proving that he was the monster she thought he was, the tyrant who threatened and bribed instead of trying to understand anyone else.

He never would have let her die. He knew that, and clearly Tyler had known that, or he wouldn't have brought her back. And though he was in no position to be critiquing anyone, he couldn't help but think Tyler had been selfish and cowardly when he left Caroline on the floor of the Gilberts' living room and fled, leaving the girl he claimed to love to her fate, to live or die by Klaus's will. Even if he hadn't been trapped, if he were in Tyler's place, Klaus knew that he could never have left her. He could never have let someone he loved die on the floor of her friend's living room, with the sworn enemy of the people she loved most. If Klaus had chosen not to save her, if he had really allowed her to die as collateral damage in his war against Tyler, his penance for committing such an egregious sin would have been to hear her take her last shuddering breath, to watch her light fade from the world and know that nothing would ever be so bright again. And for the next thousand years, and for however many thousands of years he would have lived after that, he would have worn the pain her death would surely cause him like a shield to remind himself that his eternal darkness could never allow light to thrive near him, that loving an angel hadn't saved him, it had damned her.

Yes, she was correct. He was in love with her, even if he had refused to admit it to himself before she said it out loud. What was most curious to him was how she let the accusation hang in the air, stating it simply as if she knew it to be fact, just like she would have announced that she knew that she lived in Virginia, or that she had blonde hair. She hadn't seemed disgusted, or angry, or confused. She accepted this fact, even perhaps depended on it. Like it was something she could count on-the sun will rise in the morning, and Klaus is in love with Caroline.

Not only had she made the claim that he was in love with her with the same ease and certainty as she might have announced her age or middle name, she had also told him that because of his love for her, he was somehow capable of being saved. But by whom? Was she saying that because he was in love with her, Caroline would be able to save him? The idea of Caroline being his salvation was not only a heartwarming thought, but seemed remarkably fitting. Because Klaus had preserved her light, she would be able to use it combat his darkness and the monster that it encompassed.

Although, according to Caroline, he wasn't a monster. He was human. Like he had hoped she would, Caroline had seen through his flimsy claims of being pure evil and recognized him for what he was: a hurt young man who had just lost someone he loved. She was clever and compassionate, loyal and loving, and Klaus would never be worthy of the empathy and understanding she kept granting him, even when she was facing the possibility of her own death at his hand.

Klaus broke away from his thoughts to look at the canvas where he had been absently painting during his mental tirade. The canvas was all black except for a space in the middle that had been left white. A circular space with irregular points reaching out from it. Almost like the sun. He smiled a little, remembering how Caroline had complimented the snowflake of his contribution for the charity auction. He'd only participated because he knew how much that would mean to her.

Deciding this subconscious metaphor was too blatant to ignore, Klaus resolved to make amends for his abhorrent behavior towards Caroline. It wasn't enough that he had helped her uncover the meaning of the map to the cure. He had to show genuine remorse for hurting her and making her boyfriend leave.

His challenge would be making it up to her without completely changing himself and scaring her off in the process. She thought that he was a soulless murderer who could occasionally be nice to her. If he were to suddenly transform into one of the heroes of the romantic movies she liked, she wouldn't believe he was sincere.

His first priority would be checking up on her to make sure that she was safe and hadn't done anything rash like running away to be with Tyler. The supernatural misfits of Mystic Falls would be far less tolerable without her presence.

He turned back to his painting and finished his drink, slamming the empty glass down on the table.

He would start first thing tomorrow.

~love~

Perhaps Caroline's life would have looked after a good night's sleep, but she would never know, since she had spent the entire night tossing and turning. She hadn't heard her mother come in after her night shift at the police station, but unless someone had broken in, she was in the kitchen now, probably making coffee, without which neither Forbes could get through the day.

Except that Liz wasn't the one in the kitchen.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Klaus greeted her. "Cream and sugar?" He asked, holding up containers of both.

Caroline nodded warily, tucking her hair behind her ear and moving further into the room.

"Your mother is asleep in her room. There's no need to worry, I wouldn't hurt her," Klaus explained while fixing her coffee and handing her the mug.

"What are you doing here?" Caroline asked, her sleep deprived brain finally starting to wake up. Surprisingly, she didn't feel unsafe knowing that Klaus had entered her house without permission while she and her mother were sleeping. The rational part of her mind told her that if Klaus had really wanted to hurt her, he wouldn't have given her his blood the previous day, and the emotional part of her mind told her that Klaus wouldn't hurt her because he loved her. Combined with the times that Klaus had gone out of his way to protect her from harm, she felt completely safe in his presence.

"I just wanted to check up on you, I'm sure Tyler leaving was quite distressing for you," Klaus started towards her, but Caroline hurriedly stepped away.

"Tyler's 'lady werewolf friend,' as you called her, went with him, so he should be fine until she betrays him and sends him to his death like she did with the rest of your hybrids," Caroline told him bitterly. Klaus didn't seem surprised by her accusation, and since she had been in the ladies' room of the Mystic Grill with a broken neck, courtesy of Hayley herself, when the massacre had happened, she could only assume that Klaus had already figured out that it was Hayley who had manipulated him into killing his hybrids.

"Yes, the werewolf who mysteriously knew how to break sire bonds despite having never experienced having one. Very curious," Klaus smirked.

Caroline considered asking him what he meant by that, then decided she didn't want to talk to him any longer than it would take to get him out of her house. Hayley, along with Tyler, would be out of their lives for the foreseeable future, so it didn't really matter to her how she knew about the sire bond.

Klaus seemed to pick up on her reluctance to follow his train of thought, so all he said was, "Don't worry love, she will be punished for her crimes against us," before he changed the subject.

"Your friends are back from their search for the cure. Are you going to school today, or will you all be meeting at the Salvatore's to debrief?"

"Why would I be debriefed on a mission I wasn't invited to participate in?" Caroline answered. "I'm going to school, though I'm sure Damon will summon me if they decide to include me this time."

"It's their loss, love. I personally look forward to any time I get to spend with you," Klaus smiled.

"Well, if they need me, it will probably be to distract you, so try to remember you thought that," Caroline said. "I should go get ready for school. Thanks for the coffee, I guess, though next time you want to check up on me and bring me coffee, maybe consider not breaking into my house?"

Klaus chuckled.

"I thought that you would feel better if you got your mind off of everything. I hope you have a thoroughly distracting day at school, love. I'll see you soon." He gave her a searching look and lifted his hand a little, as if he wanted to touch her, but then changed his mind and swept out of the house.

He had only been there for a few minutes, but without his presence, the house already felt emptier. The Forbes house could, once again, be seen just as a home for the sheriff and her teenage daughter. A totally normal house, in a totally normal small town. Except that it wasn't. And despite what other people in town may have thought, that wasn't Klaus's fault.

"That was weird," Caroline announced to the empty kitchen. Then she put her empty coffee mug down and went to her room to get ready for school.

~love~

By the time Caroline arrived at school, she had decided that Klaus was right. She did need a distraction from the current drama of her life, so that hopefully, by the time she was finished, she would be over Tyler, they would have found the cure, and Klaus would be… well she wasn't sure if she still wanted him gone, but she wasn't sure what alternative she wanted instead.

Resolving to shelve that dangerous train of thought for some time in the future, Caroline consulted her planner, looking for a town event or committee meeting she could devote herself to in the meantime. Since that day was the first of the month, she turned the page in her calendar only to discover that she had nothing planned yet for the entire month of February.

Nothing. How could there be nothing?!

There were no fundraisers to restore the Wickery Bridge, no Miss Mystic Falls obligations, not even a test or project she could devote her free time to studying for.

Even with the days off of school in February for the birthdays of multiple presidents-famous, important presidents like Washington and Lincoln-there were no town events planned to observe them. Not a parade, not a picnic, not even a bake sale.

Then, hidden among those federally mandated days where schools were closed, she saw more of the printed writing that meant it was a holiday on another day.

 _Perfect!_

How could she have possibly forgotten that that day was coming up? How had she become so preoccupied and overwhelmed with supernatural drama that she had forgotten that her second favorite day of the year (after her birthday, of course) was less than two weeks away?

But with all of her friends scrambling to find the cure, who could she ask to help her put her developing plan in motion? As she scanned the hallway, she saw the other member of their group of friends who had been left out of the trip to find the cure.

"Matt!" Caroline called.

"Hey, Care," Matt greeted with a strained version of his characteristic easygoing smile. Caroline assumed that meant he knew about Tyler's absence.

"Have you heard about Tyler?" she asked, to be sure.

"Yeah, he called me last night. All he said was that he had to leave town immediately so that Klaus wouldn't kill him. Then he said that anything else you would have to explain when I next saw you. How could you let him go on the run from Klaus alone?" Matt asked.

"I didn't let him do anything Matt! Klaus was all set to kill Tyler as soon as Bonnie's spell to keep him trapped in Elena's living room wore off! I practically had to beg Klaus to let Tyler live at all! Klaus thinks that he's being merciful by allowing Tyler to run for his life and I can't exactly negotiate further without putting Tyler's life at risk. And for the record, Tyler isn't on the run alone. His friend Hayley is with him, I saw her packing up their stuff and driving away in Tyler's car when I went to his house last night," Caroline explained, sighing heavily.

Matt looked properly chastened when she finished her tirade.

"I'm sorry, Caroline. I know this is rough on you too. I'm just worried about my friend," Matt apologized.

The bell rang, and students started moving through the hallway to their classrooms.

"I have to get to class, but we'll talk later, okay?" Matt asked, walking away before Caroline could say anything at all, let alone tell him about her plan.

Caroline just nodded and walked off to her first class, her mind whirring with ideas for her plan to distract herself until casual conversations about Tyler's wellbeing didn't make her feel sick to her stomach.

~love~

As Caroline had predicted, she and Matt were ordered to come to the Salvatore boarding house during their lunch period. When they arrived, Elena, Bonnie, and Stefan were already there, having skipped school for the day, as well as Damon and, to Caroline's surprise, Rebekah.

"How was playing house with Nik all weekend, Caroline?" the other blonde vampire taunted.

Caroline took a deep breath and plastered a sympathetic smile on her face, deciding that getting into an argument with Rebekah wasn't worth her time.

"I'm very sorry for your loss, Rebekah," was all Caroline said.

Rebekah looked taken aback for a second, then her face softened slightly, and she offered a quiet "thanks."

"And I'm really sorry about Jeremy, too, Elena," Caroline added.

Her friend just nodded and gave her a watery smile.

"So now that the sympathy is out of the way, we can get to something that actually matters," Damon started.

Caroline, Stefan, and Bonnie sighed in unison.

"Here's what we know," Stefan said. "Katherine has the cure and she killed Jeremy to get it. What we don't know is where it is, what Katherine is going to do with it, or why she wanted it in the first place."

"Yes, we do," Caroline interjected uncertainly. "Don't we? I mean, why does Katherine ever do anything? To ensure her own survival or to try to negotiate her freedom from Klaus. That's why she turned me and made Tyler activate his werewolf curse, so that she could trade us and the moonstone to Klaus for the sacrifice. And since it's a lot easier to stay alive if you're immortal, she must think that Klaus wants the cure to make Elena human again so he can make hybrids, and is going to offer it to him in exchange for her freedom," Caroline explained.

"So you're the Klaus expert now, huh?" Damon smirked.

Caroline was starting to wonder why she was even here. Clearly her opinion wasn't valued, and she hated feeling like she was at Damon's beck and call. He'd hurt her, in every way she could imagine, and now she still had to be nice to him so as not to upset her friends. And in exchange for playing the peacekeeper, she was taunted and belittled for offering her opinion, and used as a distraction, as if Stefan and Damon didn't trust her or thought she was incapable of participating in their plans.

"She has a point," Elena conceded. Bonnie nodded.

"That may work for all of you who want to give the cure to Elena, but what about those of us who wanted the cure for themselves? And we still have to find Katherine to make sure that is her plan and to get the cure from her," Rebekah argued.

"I think that might be just you Rebekah," Bonnie suggested quietly. "Caroline doesn't want the cure, neither does Damon. Katherine doesn't want it for herself, and Stefan wouldn't go against the group to take the cure away from Elena. He may hate being a vampire, but he knows Elena never wanted to be a vampire, and hates it at least as much as he does."

"Is that true?" Elena asked. "Would you really sacrifice the cure for me?"

Stefan glanced at Damon, then at Elena, and nodded.

Rebekah watched this exchange, sighed exaggeratedly, then stormed out of the house.

Caroline understood why Rebekah was so upset and appreciated a drama queen tantrum, having performed many herself, but she also found it hard to believe that Klaus would allow Rebekah to take the cure. In fact, Caroline was fairly certain that if she tried, she would find a dagger in her back before she could get her hands on it.

"Should one of us go after her?" Elena asked.

"No," Damon insisted. "All of us need to come up with a plan to keep her distracted so that she can't get to the cure before we do. Now if this was a different Mikaelson, this would be your job Blondie—"

Caroline glared at him.

"She seems to like you, Matt. Do you think you could try to keep her busy for the next few days while we find Katherine?" Stefan requested.

"Sure," Matt agreed. "We should get back to school, not all of us took the day off."

By the time Caroline and Matt left, Rebekah was nowhere to be found. Caroline resolved to find her at school later or the next day to put the next part of her plan in motion.

~love~

Klaus was sitting in the living room when Rebekah stormed in.

"Did you put them up to this?" she demanded.

"Did I put who up to what Rebekah?" Klaus sighed.

He was used to Rebekah's theatrics, but usually she gave some indication as to what she was so upset about.

"Your precious Caroline and her friends are trying to keep me from the cure! Have you enlisted them in your latest plan to make sure I can never be happy?"

Ignoring the momentary thrill that ran through him at Rebekah calling Caroline his, Klaus immediately started working on damage control to prevent Rebekah from thinking that he was participating in a conspiracy against her, not just because he was offended by the suggestion that he would ever want to work with the Salvatores, but because he knew that whenever Rebekah that someone was trying to stop her from getting what she wanted, she only wanted it more.

"No Rebekah, I would not team up with the Salvatores, the doppelganger, and the Bennett witch to keep the cure from you. I'm counting on your own flighty nature to keep you from taking the cure," Klaus responded.

"So you admit it! You don't want me to take the cure!" Rebekah gloated.

"No, Rebekah, I don't. I haven't spent a thousand years protecting you from all manner of things that might want to kill you only to see you meet your demise because of your own stupidity. You are an Original. You have been alive for a thousand years. This cure is just another one of your passing fancies. You'll have moved on by next week, and you can't recover from becoming human after being a vampire for a thousand years!" Klaus lectured his little sister.

Klaus was getting quite tired of dealing with this cure nonsense. He certainly wanted to prevent anyone using it against him or his family, and he supposed that if Elena took the cure, become human, and was willing to donate her blood to the cause, he would consider making more hybrids, but if he were the one to get his hands on it first, he knew that he would almost surely destroy it rather than allowing anyone to take it.

"But they're going to let Katherine give it to you to exchange for her freedom! You don't want that do you?" Rebekah argued.

"Katherine has the cure now? How exactly do they plan on finding her down and convincing her to hand it over?" Klaus considered.

"I don't know, but Caroline said that everything Katherine does is either for self-preservation or to earn her freedom. Apparently Katherine assumes you want the cure so that you can make hybrids. Damon is going to look for her, but she'll probably find you before they find her," Rebekah explained.

"Then she will find me, and I will keep you safe, as I always do," Klaus promised. "I trust Caroline's assessment of her murderess. I'm not overly concerned. The last time we met in person she was the one who went running scared as soon as I allowed her to," Klaus assured her.

"You're really not giving in on this, are you? You are going to continue to try to keep me away from the one thing I want, the one thing that I'm sure will make me happy, and you are going to either destroy it or give it to Elena Gilbert to make sure that I can't have it!" Rebekah screamed, angry tears running down her cheeks.

Klaus thought, not for the first time in the thousand years he had known his sister, that Rebekah's stubbornness would be her downfall.

"Now, now, Rebekah, love, calm down. Just try to find something to take your mind off of this cure nonsense and it will be over soon enough. And then you'll realize how foolish you were to think that being a vulnerable human could make you happy when being a powerful, invincible Original vampire couldn't. This too shall pass, and then you'll move on to your next whim, the same way you have for the past millennium," Klaus told Rebekah.

Rebekah screamed wordlessly at him, then stormed out of the room and up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

~love~

Caroline couldn't find Rebekah at school, so she assumed the other girl had left early after her tantrum at lunch. Caroline had been to the principal's office during her free period to get permission for her planned distraction, which the principal had heartily agreed was a great way to improve the spirits of a weary student body. But even though she was willing to try in order to help Matt, she still wasn't sure if her idea would work. So, wanting reassurance, she called the one person she knew wouldn't make fun of her idea.

"Objectively, how successful was I as a distraction?" Caroline asked when he picked up the phone.

"Honestly, love, I always knew what you were up to, I just enjoyed your company too much to risk your friends finding another method of keeping me occupied," Klaus replied without missing a beat.

"So you think that if I were to try distracting someone else, I wouldn't be successful?" Caroline clarified.

"Sweetheart, I think you can be successful at anything you choose to. Can I ask what it is that you're planning? Can I be of assistance?" Klaus asked.

"How opposed are you to Rebekah taking the cure?" Caroline asked a question of her own instead of answering. She wasn't sure if she wanted Klaus's help, not wanting to put him in a position where he would have to betray Rebekah's trust. Plus she hadn't thought that Klaus would be interested in what she was planning.

"Between you and I, very. I did not spend a thousand years ensuring my sister's survival only for her to turn mortal and die in sixty years," Klaus answered.

"Good. Because I have a plan to keep her away from the cure."

~love~

"What is your plan, love?" Klaus asked.

He left his sketchbook on the coffee table and walked over to the fireplace. He had been in the middle of sketching Caroline when she had called him, as if his drawing had somehow prompted her to reach out to him.

He trusted Caroline's judgment, but he was wary of her plan, which was obviously to distract Rebekah somehow so that the rest of her friends could secure the cure for Elena. While Caroline had spent little time with his younger sister, and their relationship had always been too contentious for them to really get to know each other, he knew that Rebekah was ruthless when in pursuit of something she wanted. When he relayed this sentiment to Caroline, however, she just laughed.

"Is that a family trait, then?" she questioned through her giggles.

Klaus sighed. Couldn't she see that he was just trying to keep her safe?

"Very funny, sweetheart. I just don't want you to get hurt if she realizes what you're trying to do and retaliates against you," Klaus said.

"She won't," Caroline insisted, causing Klaus to roll his eyes at her willingness to risk her own safety for her friends. "I'm not the official distraction. I'm just… You were right. I will feel better about everything that's happened if I can just get my mind off it. I figured that with Kol, and the cure, Rebekah might need the same thing. I'm only trying to help, and if it helps my friends, too, well then that's a bonus," Caroline finished.

Klaus shouldn't still be surprised by the extent of Caroline's compassion, but as she described how she wanted to help a person who had never been particularly kind to her, he was momentarily caught off guard be just how good of a person Caroline was.

"How long will you need to keep the Rebekah preoccupied?" Klaus asked.

Klaus certainly wanted to prevent Rebekah from taking the cure, but he wasn't willing to risk Caroline's safety to do so.

"Damon says only a few days, but no one else has as much confidence in him as he does. We know that Katherine has the cure, and since we know that she has no desire to be human, she must assume that you want the cure to make Elena human again so that you can use her blood to make more hybrids. And we know that whenever Katherine thinks you want something, she tries to get it first so that she can trade it for her freedom. That's why she turned me and forced Tyler to activate his werewolf curse. She was planning to hand us over, with the moonstone, so that you could break your curse and you would forgive her because she helped make it happen. Whether or not it's Katherine who gives you the cure, we just want to make sure that it ultimately ends up in Elena's hands, not Rebekah's," Caroline explained.

"Then I suppose I am on your side. Do what you must to keep Rebekah away from Katherine and the cure, but please don't do anything to put yourself at risk. I am sure whatever your method is, it will gentler than the respite in her coffin that I threatened her with," Klaus agreed.

Klaus was wary about giving Caroline carte blanche with regards to keeping Rebekah from taking the cure, because he knew that Caroline would do anything to keep the people she loved safe, and he didn't want to see her hurt herself in her quest to help him stop Rebekah from becoming human. However, he also knew that Caroline would do whatever it took to achieve her objective, whether he gave her permission to or not.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Sensing that she was about to end their conversation, Klaus quickly interjected.

"Caroline?"

"Yes?"

"I didn't know you at the time, but I'm still very glad that you were not the vampire I had to sacrifice to complete the ritual. I am loathe to be indebted to the likes of Damon Salvatore, but I will forever be grateful to him for helping you escape," Klaus confessed.

"Thank you," she said again, even more softly than before, her voice giving way to a pregnant pause as they each considered how devastating the alternative would be for them.

"You never told me, what exactly is your grand plan to keep yourself and Rebekah too busy to think about everything that troubles you?" Klaus steered the conversation away from such emotional territory.

"Oh yeah! I'm planning a Valentine's Day dance! I got permission from the principal today. There was nothing in my planner for this month, and then I saw that Valentine's Day was coming up with no events for it and I love Valentine's Day, so I figured, why not? Especially since the last decade dance got cancelled, and Rebekah staged a hostile takeover on the one before that, I haven't planned a school dance in ages and I think that's exactly what I need right now."

Klaus found Caroline's rambling adorable in any circumstances, but as he listened to her rattling off a plan to help prevent his sister from becoming human and help herself recover from the banishment of his hybrid, he found himself hanging on her every word.

"You're planning an event for Valentine's Day? Are you sure you want to focus so much of your time on a day dedicated to love? That might be counterproductive," Klaus asked.

"Yes! I love Valentine's Day, and I just think we need to celebrate love right now after we've lost so much, you know? And I already know exactly what it's going to look like, everything is going to be pink, and there'll be hearts everywhere, and I know I only have thirteen days, but if Rebekah's helping than that's more vampire strength and compulsion so I think we can pull it off," Caroline paused. "Will you come?" she added softly.

Klaus was still caught off guard by her choice of distraction, and still thought high school dances were trivial, but he knew that he could never deny Caroline anything she asked of him, especially when what she requested was his presence.

"If you want me there, I'll be there, sweetheart. I promise," he told her.

"Good," she replied.

~love~

The next day, Caroline approached Rebekah at her locker before school. She pasted on a cheerful smile and launched into her sales pitch.

"Hi, Rebekah, I'm planning a Valentine's Day dance, and as chair of the Dance Committee, I was wondering if you'd like to contribute, since you seemed to enjoy working on the last Decade Dance," Caroline inquired.

"You don't really want me planning the dance with you, what is this really about?" Rebekah eyed her suspiciously.

"I just needed a distraction from everything; Tyler leaving, Jeremy dying, Katherine's reappearance in our lives, the search for the cure. I thought you could use a fun diversion from all of the craziness too. Your brother asked me to reach out to you, he's worried about you."

That last part was a lie, but Caroline knew that Klaus would cover for her if Rebekah called her bluff. Klaus had told her to do whatever she felt was necessary to prevent Rebekah from finding the cure as long as it didn't put her in any danger. He would certainly support a little white lie that would persuade Rebekah to participate in a wholesome school-sanctioned activity to distract her.

Then Caroline tried a different tactic.

"I'm going to ask Matt to help too, since he and I weren't really included in the search for the cure, so we have a little more free time than the rest of our friends. He would probably go with you if you asked," Caroline said.

She almost felt bad for giving Rebekah false hope, because she knew that Matt would only agree because he had been tasked with distracting Rebekah from her pursuit of the cure, but she wanted Rebekah on her side, and though she would never admit it to her friends, she didn't want Klaus to lose another sibling.

Rebekah's face softened as she considered Caroline's proposal.

"Yes, I would like to help, thanks," Rebekah said.

"Excellent!" Caroline cheered. "I already have a bunch of ideas, I'm thinking pink paper covering the walls, and pink lights shaped like hearts hanging from the ceiling, and glittery pink confetti shaped like hearts everywhere, and cupcakes, and chocolate, and—"

"Breathe, Caroline. Let's have a planning meeting at lunch. I'm sure I'll have a few ideas of my own by then," Rebekah suggested.

As she walked away, Caroline could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile on Rebekah's face.

~love~

"It worked!" an excited voice cheered from the front door.

Klaus ventured to the door from his art room to find Caroline standing in the entry way, grinning at him.

"What worked, love?" Klaus asked.

"My plan to distract Rebekah from searching for the cure by convincing her to help me plan the Valentine's Day dance," Caroline explained, dropping her school bag on the floor.

"Excellent work, love," Klaus praised.

Klaus picked up Caroline's bag and gestured for her to come sit with him in the living room. He offered her a drink, which she politely declined, before sitting next to her on the couch.

"Thank you," Caroline said.

"Caroline, love, not that I don't welcome your presence in my home whenever you decide to stop by for a visit, but why did you decide to tell me this information in person when a phone call surely would have sufficed, especially considering your busy schedule?" Klaus asked.

"I just thought that you haven't seen me in a while," Caroline started uncertainly.

"I saw you yesterday, love," Klaus corrected her gently. "Are you alright?"

Klaus was concerned by Caroline's disorientation with the events of the past few days. He knew that she was upset over Tyler leaving, and stressed over her friends' search for the cure, but it worried him that she may not have been taking proper care of herself, if she was forgetting something that had happened only the previous day.

"Really? It seems like way longer than that. Yesterday seems like ages ago," Caroline said. "And are you aware that you've called me 'love' four times in your last four sentences?"

"Yes, love," Klaus smiled.

Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Absence does make the heart grow fonder, my love, maybe that's what you're experiencing, and why you were so eager to come see me in person when you could have easily called me instead," Klaus suggested.

Caroline responded with a loud peal of laughter.

"You are so cheesy, you know that? I almost regret planning an event for Valentine's Day because it gives you a prime opportunity to be cheesy," she said.

"You love Valentine's Day," Klaus reminded her.

"Yes, I do love Valentine's Day," Caroline agreed.

"So it stands to reason that you would enjoy me saying romantic things, that you call cheesy, on Valentine's Day," Klaus asserted.

"Only on Valentine's Day," Caroline ordered. "Not on February 2nd, or whatever date the ball that your family hosted was, where you told me that the bracelet you gave me was once owned by a princess almost as beautiful as me. Seriously?"

"But that wasn't a line, love, that was true," Klaus insisted.

Caroline sighed. "Whatever."

"So what is the next step in your plan for your Valentine's Day dance?" Klaus asked.

Caroline immediately leapt into her Miss Mystic Falls event organizer mode.

"We only have twelve days, so we'll have to spend pretty much all of our free time working on this," Caroline explained. "We have to design and print tickets and posters, we have to choose and buy decorations, we have to hire a deejay, we have to decide on and buy food, we need to get candy, and flowers, and plastic silverware, and everything has to be pink, and hopefully between Rebekah's willingness to compel people and her willingness to throw your money around, we should be able to get everything we need before the fourteenth," Caroline listed.

"I am sure that you will be fine," Klaus assured her.

"I hope you're right," Caroline said.

"I'm not sure whether or not I've said this already, but even if I have I should say it again: I really appreciate you working so hard to help me prevent Rebekah from taking the cure. I know that there is no love lost between the two of you, so it means a lot to me that you are so willing to help, and is a testament to how wonderfully compassionate and generous you are," Klaus complimented.

"Thank you," Caroline said, overwhelmed by Klaus's praise.

"I should probably go," she added. "We have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it in."

"Of course, love," Klaus agreed, standing up to walk her out.

When they reached the entryway, Klaus gently placed Caroline's bag over her shoulder, then opened the door for her.

"I appreciate you coming to see me, love," Klaus said warmly. "Hopefully I will see you again very soon."

"See you later, Klaus," Caroline said, turning away from him and walking towards her car.

~love~

Later that evening, Caroline had finished her homework and was brainstorming ideas for the Valentine's Day dance while thinking about her conversation with Klaus earlier that day.

She was used to him being nice to her, even when he wasn't nice to anyone else, but she had been surprised by his obsequiousness when he thanked her for including Rebekah in her plans. And while he frequently called her 'love,' he'd never used the term of endearment in every sentence he said to her.

So what was going on with him?

He made no secret of his affection for her and his interest in her when she was with Tyler, so Caroline didn't think that he would suddenly start to actively pursue a relationship with her now that Tyler was gone.

She could easily explain why Klaus seemed so pleased to see her, but what wasn't as easy for her to explain was why she had gone to see him in person.

She had explanations ready if any of her friends asked why she had gone to see him: she wanted to try again to get him to allow Tyler to come home; she desperately needed to talk to someone, anyone, with Tyler gone; she knew her friends were busy and she hadn't wanted to interrupt them. She knew any of those excuses would be believable enough for everyone to accept them, move on, and not give it any more thought.

But she also knew that none of those reasons were true. All of those excuses were reliant on the idea that Caroline was merely taking advantage of Klaus's feelings for her, as she had when Damon, Stefan, and even Tyler had sent her to be his distraction, when Caroline knew that it meant more than that.

Caroline knew, in her heart, that Klaus meant more to her than just an enemy of her friends whose feelings for her could be used against him. But she also knew that knowing something in her heart didn't make it any clearer in her mind.

Caroline still wasn't entirely sure why she'd gone to see him in person instead of calling, when, as Klaus had pointed out, a brief phone call would have sufficed; or why it somehow felt like forever since she'd seen him, even though it had actually only been thirty-six hours; or why she'd felt more at home in his house with just the two of them than she had yesterday at the Salvatore's house with all of her friends.

But she knew, in her heart and in her mind, that these feelings meant something, and that they weren't going away.

As Caroline was contemplating this, her cell phone rang.

"I sent the tickets and the posters to the printer," Rebekah announced.

"Hi, Rebekah, thanks for taking care of that," Caroline responded.

"And we're going to the party supply store to get decorations on Saturday. I'll pick you up from your house at ten," Rebekah proclaimed.

"Okay," Caroline agreed.

"And Caroline?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you asked me to help you with this," Rebekah confessed.

"I am, too," Caroline said.

"Because you really need my help," Rebekah continued.

"Goodnight Rebekah."

~love~

Over the next twelve days, Caroline and Rebekah were practically inseparable. They spent every waking moment working on the Valentine's Day dance, from compelling the supplies they would need, to designing tickets and agreeing on decorations, to publicizing the event. The majority of the student body was excited about the dance, especially since the last decade dance had been cancelled, homecoming had been hijacked by Klaus to serve his own agenda, and prom was still months away.

While they'd argued and tried to outdo each other in the initial stages of planning, Caroline and Rebekah had quickly decided that it would be more productive to get along. Once they made that decision, not only did planning for the dance go much more smoothly, but they even started to enjoy each other's company. They found that they were much more similar in temperament and had more in common than they'd thought. With their similar personalities and attitudes, it took only a few days for them to be on the same page in most areas. Caroline had been prepared to make a concerted effort to try to get along with Rebekah, but she found that she actually quite liked the other girl and had even begun to consider her a friend.

Two days before the dance, Caroline and Rebekah were at the Mikaelson mansion finalizing their decorations. Rebekah had offered to host, since her house was far larger than Caroline's. The girls had decided that they wanted strings of hearts to hang from the doorway that students would be using to enter the dance, but couldn't choose between a light pink and a brighter magenta, so both were hanging from the entryway of the dining room when Klaus marched through them.

"What is the meaning of this, little sister?" he mocked, holding up the metallic pink plastic.

"We're choosing our decorations for the dance. We're almost finished," Rebekah answered.

"Hi Klaus!" Caroline called from the dining room table, where she was examining two very similar looking pink heart-shaped candles.

"Hello, love. What are you doing?" Klaus asked, walking towards her.

"Trying to choose between Romantic Rose and Strawberries and Crème. Any thoughts?" Caroline asked him.

Wondering how he, the most powerful creature on the planet, had been conned into smelling candles in order to decide which would be better for a high school dance his younger sister was helping to plan, he smelled them both.

"They're both nice. You have exquisite taste, Caroline, you must know that. I think the rose fits your theme better though," Klaus offered.

"Thank you!" Caroline said, immediately packing away the rejected choice. "I'm keeping the other ones though."

"Caroline! Which color hearts for the entryway?" Rebekah demanded.

Caroline examined the doorway from which both options were hanging.

"I think the lighter pink, since all of the other decorations are lighter too. Save the saucier bright pink for your dress, Bekah," Caroline smiled.

"Haha, very funny," Rebekah retorted, but she must have agreed with Caroline, since she took down the brighter pink plastic banner from the doorway.

"So it seems that you two are getting along," Klaus prompted once Rebekah had left the room.

"Yeah, we have actually. I was surprised at first but I realized that we were more similar that I wanted to think when we were both insecure and envious of the other, so we refused to get along. But I've had fun working with her on this, and I think we could be really good friends in the future," Caroline admitted.

"Team Barbie saves Valentine's Day," Rebekah deadpans, walking towards them carrying two bottles of soda. "Strawberry or cherry?"

"Strawberry," Caroline decides. "Pink heart-shaped cupcakes or one giant pink heart-shaped cake?"

"Cupcakes, of course. Who wants to slice a cake at a dance?" Rebekah answered. "We were deciding on food last, does that mean we're finished?"

"Yes! We've decided on the music, the tickets and posters, and we just finalized our choices for decorations and food. We are all set, we just have to set up right after school on the day of. I've already asked Matt to come help, and everyone else from the committee who doesn't have a prior commitment will be there too." Caroline informed her.

"Are you sure that will be enough?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus felt two pairs of blue eyes focus on him and knew that he was about to be asked to do something he didn't want to do. Of course, he also knew that he'd spent over a thousand years catering to most of his baby sister's requests, and that he would do practically anything Caroline asked of him, so it was a given that even if he didn't particularly want to do what they asked of him, he would still do it anyway.

"Will you please come help us set up for the dance?" Caroline pleaded, batting her eyelashes at him and pouting a little. Klaus almost laughed at her production, she had to know he would grant her a request as simple as this one without making her beg.

"Of course, love."

* * *

Thank you very much for reading!

I hope that you enjoyed the first part of the story!

I would love to know what you thought, so please leave a review; I would love to read them!

lots of love,

charlotte xoxo


	2. Part Two: My Lovely Valentine

Songs used in this chapter are "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran and "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf.

Happy Valentine's Day, again, and happy reading!

* * *

Caroline woke up on Valentine's Day feeling optimistic and excited about the day's events. She was meeting Rebekah before school to address any last minute issues with the dance, then she planned to drop off Valentine's Day treats for her mother and the other officers at the police station during lunch, then she would join the dance committee to set up for the dance, before rushing home to get ready herself. Following the wardrobe suggestion of Valentine's colors that she and Rebekah had printed on the tickets for the dance, the pink lace dress and fake pink pearl costume jewelry she planned to wear that night were already hanging in the bathroom.

The doorbell rang, and since Caroline knew that her mother would already be at work, she immediately jumped out of bed to answer the door.

A man holding a dozen pale pink roses was standing on her porch when she opened the door.

"Delivery for Caroline Forbes," the man announced.

"That's me," Caroline answered, unsure of who would send her a dozen roses on Valentine's Day.

She was reaching for the bouquet when the deliveryman asked, "Where do you want the rest of them?"

"The rest of them? How many are there?" Caroline asked.

"There's fourteen of them, including that one. Someone must really love you," he answered.

After placing all fourteen bouquets of roses on the kitchen table, pondering what she could do with 168 pink roses, and resolving that she would bring at least some of them to add to the dance decorations, Caroline looked for a note claiming responsibility for turning her kitchen into a rose garden.

She found a small pink, heart-shaped piece of paper on one of the bouquets, with a note that read:

 _For every day you thought you were without the person who loves you most…_

 _You weren't._

 _Happy Valentine's Day, my love._

 _Save me a dance tonight._

 _Yours,_

 _Klaus_

Caroline was sure her undead heart had stopped.

Of all of the ways that she had imagined Klaus might have responded to her telling him that she knew he was in love with her, this was not one that she ever entertained. She never would have that he would have agreed! In all honesty, she had, rather uncharitably, assumed that Klaus would completely ignore her revelation until it suited him, most likely at a time when he could use his feelings to convince her to be on his side in the constant tug of war between Mystic Falls' supernatural contingents. At most, she had hoped that he would eventually acknowledge her statement with a definitive answer, whether to confirm or deny. Fourteen dozen roses on Valentine's Day was a confession of love that existed only in romantic comedies, Disney princess movies, and apparently Caroline Forbes's life now that Klaus Mikaelson, all-powerful alpha male Original Hybrid, was the one confessing his love for her.

She had suspected since the night of the Mikaelson ball that Klaus was somewhat of a closet romantic, but she never would have thought that he would ever pull off a romantic gesture of such epic proportions. But he had, and now Caroline had to decide how she felt about that.

Caroline had come to terms with the fact that a thousand-year-old murderous vampire werewolf hybrid was in love with her. It hadn't been a quick or easy process, but she had accepted that somehow, as astronomical as the odds were, Klaus loved her.

What she didn't have such a solid grasp on was her feelings for him. She knew that she did have feelings for him, and while she was certain that those feelings could become love eventually, she wasn't sure if she loved him now. It was true that he showed her a softer, more human side of himself. She liked that she was his first choice, that unlike everyone else in her life, he didn't have a preference for Elena. In this one area, he seemed to have no ulterior motives: Klaus loved Caroline because of Caroline. Not because Elena was unavailable, or he needed someone to do his dirty work, but because he enjoyed spending time with her, admired her intelligence and her loyalty, found the quirks everyone else considered annoying endearing. Because he thought she was beautiful, and strong, and full of light.

He had promised her the world, once on her birthday when he had saved her life, and again during his family's ball when he had shown her his art room, then a third time at the Decade Dance when she had reluctantly danced with him, and in making that promise, he had also shown her the human soul that he buried around anyone else. No one else had ever offered her anything more than Mystic Falls. No one else had ever considered the possibility that she wanted more than Mystic Falls.

Except Klaus. Who had seen potential in her that she had never seen in herself. She had always been the second choice, the one people settled for when they couldn't have who they really wanted. She had been abandoned by her father, ignored by her mother, left out by her friends, left behind by her boyfriend, rejected and abused by her best friend's boyfriends, and murdered at seventeen by a doppelganger who would use anyone as a way to secure her own survival.

Klaus was the one who had treated her like she was worth more than being a second choice, a backup, or an afterthought. He had treated her like someone who deserved the world, and that it would be his honor to make sure that she could have it.

And in exchange for seeing the potential in her, she saw the good in him. She had told both Klaus and Stefan that she was finding it increasingly difficult to remember all of the horrible things that Klaus had done when she saw so much more of him. Her friends considered themselves better than Klaus, the good guys, while Klaus played the evil villain, when they really weren't much different. When Damon had terrorized Mystic Falls for his own entertainment, or when Stefan reverted to his Ripper phase, were they not just as violent as Klaus was?

Klaus was motivated by love just as she and her friends were. Everything he did, even keeping them in coffins, was to keep his family safe. Klaus never did bad things for no reason, even if his reason was power or revenge, and usually, even if it was, the desire for power or revenge was to protect someone he loved. Which, now that Caroline thought about it, made her the safest person in town. As much as Stefan and Damon would have gladly sacrificed her for Elena or each other, Elena and Bonnie always avoided plans that risked any of their lives, and while Klaus didn't seem to care much for any of the group, Caroline was confident that he wouldn't hurt her.

Caroline sighed and picked up one of the bouquets from the table. Nothing she had considered was new information to her. She knew that Klaus loved her, and she knew at least some of the reasons why. She could see the good in Klaus, and she could even forgive him for the mayhem he had caused since he first arrived in Mystic Falls. The question she needed to answer was if she loved him. She knew that she could, but did she now?

She knew that it wasn't enough that he loved her to make her love him in return. She did know that whether she loved Klaus or not, he was worthy of being loved, even if it wasn't by her. But that thought gave her pause, if she didn't love Klaus, who would? He never showed any of the traits that made him worthy of love to anyone except her.

 _And what are those traits that only you have seen?_ The evil little voice in her head who had first taunted her about Klaus being in love with her had returned with a vengeance.

Caroline decided to humor the little voice and answer her question.

Klaus was intelligent, worldly, well-traveled, well-read, artistic, generous, loyal, protective, devoted, tenacious, persistent. He seemed to know everything and had been everywhere. When he cared about something, he wouldn't rest until he had it, and he would do anything for the people he loved.

He complemented her, Caroline decided. While they were similar in many ways-both Type A personalities, through and through; meticulous planners who were loyal and devoted to the people they loved, her light would counteract his darkness. He would show her the world and all that she could be, and she would show him the value of humanity, family, love…

She turned back to the note she found with the roses. Klaus had written that he was the person who loved her most: more than her boyfriend, more than her friends, more than her mother even. Nothing would ever compare to Klaus's eternal, unequivocal love for her, and she knew now, after trying so hard with Tyler only to have everything fall apart, that she would be ridiculous to ignore that.

Before she was tempted to do something irrational, like pull the petals off one of the roses, "I love him, I love him not," Caroline had to end her early morning soul-searching so that she could get ready for school.

Once she was dressed in a festive Valentine's Day outfit of a light pink sweater with a red sequined heart, a dark pink corduroy skirt, white tights, and black ankle boots, she put on a swipe of pink shimmery eye shadow, bubblegum pink lipstick, and placed a pink heart-shaped barrette in her blonde curls to hold her long bangs out of her eyes.

On her way out the door, Caroline decided to take some of the roses along with her. One bouquet would be for each of her teachers and each of the officers on duty today at the police station to get one, two would be for decorations at the dance, and another would be for each of the volunteers helping them set up.

She would decide what to do with the other ten dozen roses-and the irritatingly persistent hybrid who sent them-after her Valentine's Day dance was a success.

~love~

When Caroline entered the gym to start setting up for the dance, three dozen light pink roses in hand, she was thoroughly in the Valentine's Day spirit. She'd passed out homemade valentines to her friends like they had in elementary school, she'd brought samples of the pink cupcakes she'd used strawberry cake mix and her festive new heart-shaped muffin tin to make for the dance tonight to her mother and the other officers at the police station, along with a rose for each of them, and she'd given a rose to each of her teachers, beaming when most of them put them in glasses on their desks.

The only other person in the gym when she arrived was Rebekah, who had evidently decided to get an early start and was already laying the pink tablecloths over one of the small round tables arranged in the back of the gym.

"I'm here, and I am not late," Caroline announced, remembering when Rebekah had scolded her for her tardiness when they had worked together on the last Decade Dance.

"Ooh, pretty flowers, where did those come from?" Rebekah asked.

"Your brother," Caroline told her. "There's ten dozen more on my kitchen table right now. I've been giving them to my teachers and the officers at the police station all day, I thought I would give one to each of our volunteers and then use the rest as decorations. Maybe as centerpieces for the tables?" Caroline suggested.

"I'll go see if I can get my hands on enough matching vases," Rebekah agreed, plucking a rose from one of the bouquets. "Pink if I can find them, clear if I can't?"

"Agreed!" Caroline called out, already walking away to finish with the tablecloths.

By the time Rebekah returned with twenty-four pink translucent plastic vases, Caroline, Matt, and the other dance committee members had already covered the walls in pink paper and were working on stenciling hearts on them in darker pink paint. Rebekah set the vases down on each table, and Caroline followed her, placing a rose in each vase, then adding a couple of the pink heart-shaped, rose scented candles Klaus had helped her choose around the vase.

"Perfect!" Caroline cheered.

"It does look nice, doesn't it?" Rebekah allowed, a soft smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

"I thought you convinced Nik to come help, where is he? I told him we were starting right after school," Rebekah questioned.

Caroline shrugged. She had no clue where Klaus was, and while she wanted to thank him for the flowers in person and hoped that seeing him might help her sort out her feelings, she also knew that decorating the gym for a school dance was fairly low on his list of priorities, even though she has asked him to help.

"I don't know. Hopefully he'll come if he can. If not, we have enough people to finish the decorations. I can't see setting up for a high school dance being really important to him," Caroline lamented. "Will you please help me hang the disco ball?"

On one of their many shopping trips, Caroline and Rebekah had found the perfect decoration for the dance: a pink, heart-shaped disco ball that they planned to hang above the center of the dance floor. It would add to the fun atmosphere, reflecting pink light on the students as the danced, complementing the pink heart-shaped spotlights they planned to hang in the corners of the ceiling.

Caroline picked up the disco ball and then dragged the ladder they had borrowed from the janitor's closet to directly underneath where she wanted the disco ball to hang. Rebekah and Matt held the ladder in place as Caroline climbed, since she had hung a disco ball in the gym for the '60s Decade Dance and knew what to do. When she'd finished, she made the mistake of leaning back slightly to see how it looked and fell backwards off the ladder.

Caroline had been through far more painful experiences than following a few feet off of a ladder, but she was slightly worried about explaining to all of her human classmates how she managed it without any injuries. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to, because she never hit the floor.

"I've got you, love," a soft, soothing voice said in her ear. Somehow, Klaus, who she hadn't even known was in the gym, had managed to catch her when she fell off the ladder and was now holding her securely around her waist.

Caroline stared wide-eyed at Klaus, who seemed more unnerved than Caroline had ever seen him. It reminded her of when he had saved her from Alaric, when he had held her just like this and she had felt so safe under his fierce protection. He held himself in a similar posture now, even though this time, Caroline's only enemy was an inanimate object whose only crime had been to bear witness to her momentary clumsiness.

"Thank you," Caroline whispered. And then, because it seemed like the right thing to do, because she was tired of ignoring her feelings, because he'd given her fourteen dozen roses that day, because he'd just saved her from falling off a ladder, she flung her arms tightly around Klaus's neck and burrowed her head in his shoulder. She pressed her cheek against his throat, feeling his pulse drum against the top of her head. In return, Klaus tightened his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss against the top of her head.

"Are you alright, love?" Klaus asked softly, moving one of his hands up to stroke her hair.

Caroline nodded as best she could from her position in Klaus's arms.

"I'm okay," she assured him.

"Come on now, lovers, the gym isn't going to decorate itself!" Rebekah taunted, walking towards them.

"You aren't hurt, are you Caroline?" she confirmed once she was close enough that no one else would be able to hear.

"I'm fine, Rebekah. You're right, we should get back to work," Caroline said, detaching herself from Klaus and feeling unpleasantly cold as soon as she did.

"No more climbing on ladders for you, sweetheart. Anything else that needs to hang from the ceiling, I will take care of," Klaus insisted.

Caroline easily agreed, not wanting a repeat of her tumble from the ladder.

"We're already almost done as it is, since you were late. All that's left is the spotlights, which are going to go on the ceiling, the place cards, and the food, but that we're bringing later, since we have to be here earlier to get the deejay set up, light the candles, little last minute things like that," Rebekah listed.

"And by 'get the deejay set up,' she means cover all of his equipment in pink paper," Caroline explained to Klaus. "Don't worry about the food, Rebekah. Fourteen dozen pink heart-shaped cupcakes are waiting at home in my kitchen."

At the familiar number, Caroline turned to Klaus. Picking up on Caroline's reaction, Rebekah ran off to start on the place cards.

"Thank you so much, for the flowers," Caroline told him.

"You're very welcome, sweetheart," Klaus responded, smiling.

"They're really beautiful, and pink is my favorite color, but I'm sure you knew that. Fourteen dozen seemed like a lot for just me though, and I knew we didn't have enough places to keep them in my house, so I hope you don't mind, but I brought some of them here to use as centerpieces for the tables, and I gave some to the volunteers, and I gave some to my teachers and the police officers, and Rebekah took one too, but I still have ten dozen of them at home, on my kitchen table, with the cupcakes—" Caroline rambled until Klaus cut her off.

"I'm happy you liked them, love. I want you to do whatever makes you happy. If giving flowers away made you happy, then how could I mind?" Klaus asked rhetorically.

"I liked your note, too, so thank you for that also," Caroline continued.

"You're welcome, love. I meant what I wrote," Klaus confessed.

"You really love me more than anyone else?" Caroline asked, her face full of wonder, her old insecurities swimming up to the surface and making her sure that no one could ever really love her that much.

Klaus looked directly in her eyes and held her chin in his hand gently to make sure she couldn't look away.

"Yes, Caroline. I really love you more than anyone else."

Caroline knew that Klaus didn't use those words lightly, and she knew that he really meant it.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why do I love you? Because you see, and you bring out in me, the good, loving human I used to be, and you are so completely good that you make me want to be that good, loving person for you, because that is what you deserve. Because there is a whole world out there waiting for you, and I want to be the one to show it to you so that I can watch your face light up when you see something that excites you. Because every time your life has been in danger I felt sick at heart considering the idea of a world without your light guiding it. Because you are honest with me when I need to hear it, and you challenge me when I need to be challenged. Because you are magnanimous, loyal, kind, compassionate, loving, spirited. Because you're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light," Klaus explained.

Caroline stood paralyzed with shock. She couldn't believe that he'd answered her question so completely, alleviating all of her doubts. He really, truly loved her.

"And because it's Valentine's Day, and you both want and deserve bouquets of roses and pretty, romantic speeches, I'll tell you this: In my thousand years alive, I have seen exquisite works of art, kept the company of beautiful and powerful people, watched history in the making, but please know that I have never known anyone as lovely as you, sweetheart. You stand alone, without equal, without even the most remote possibility of anyone stealing your crown, as the loveliest creature I have ever had the good fortune to meet. You are an angel and I want you to be my queen, Caroline, my love. My heart, with all the love it can hold, is yours forever."

Klaus placed a delicate kiss on her cheek, than flashed out of the gym.

Caroline was left to process his romantic confessions of love on her own, standing under the pink heart-shaped disco ball.

How could she not love him when he said things like that?

She loved the pretty, romantic speech he had given, but she loved it even more because he had given it for her. As far as she could tell, Klaus had never made flowery declarations of love before, but he had now because he could tell that she wanted to hear it. Needed to hear it, even, to be completely, unequivocally certain that his feelings were genuine.

And now she knew that hers were too. She must love Klaus in return, there was no other explanation for how her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest it was so full, and how she felt like falling to the floor laughing and crying tears of joy, even though no one had said anything funny, how she had felt so incoherently nervous when she'd asked him if she really loved her, and so unspeakably relieved when he had admitted that he did, as if his confession had set her crazy, confusing world to rights again.

Caroline loved Klaus. And though the possibility had frightened her this morning, now it felt like just as much a part of her identity as being blonde, organizing dances, or needing to drink blood to survive.

"Caroline, if we want to have enough time to get ready we should head out now!" Rebekah called out.

"Okay, I'll meet you back here in a little while," Caroline agreed, gathering up her things and rushing out the gym doors.

~love~

Klaus stood at the mirror in his bathroom buttoning up his shirt. He had been ordered by both Caroline and Rebekah to wear pink, so he had chosen a pale pink dress shirt and a brighter bubblegum pink tie to wear with his silvery grey suit. He had gathered that this dance was supposed to be measurably more formal than the Decade Dances, which were primarily about wearing a costume to fit the style of the decade.

As he tied his tie, Klaus considered the implications of his conversation with Caroline earlier that afternoon. It had been the first time in centuries that he had told someone who wasn't one of his siblings that he loved them, the first time he had told anyone he loved them in decades, yet he didn't regret it. Even after centuries of insisting that love was a vampire's greatest weakness, he didn't feel weak for loving Caroline and telling her so. He felt… content, happy even, happier than he had been in a long time.

He was starting to understand why Caroline loved Valentine's Day so much. While he had spent so much time with her over the last two weeks as she planned her celebration that he didn't want to see anything pink or heart-shaped again for a very long time, he did see the appeal of a day devoted to telling people you love how much you care about them. Caroline's love for Valentine's Day had inspired him to send her pink roses, a dozen for each day since Tyler left, help her set up decorations for a school dance, promise to attend said school dance, and proclaim his love for her in a speech that would have made Jane Austen weep with joy.

Surprisingly, Klaus didn't even feel uncomfortable with Caroline not returning his sentiments in kind. He was willing to wait however long it took for her to fall in love with him in return, or else decide she wanted nothing to do with him and walk away.

Klaus was putting on his jacket when he heard the door open and close downstairs, assuming it was Rebekah arriving to quickly change into her dress for the dance before rushing back to the school for last minute preparations.

He, on the other hand, had decided to get ready early so that he would have time enjoy a drink before he left. If there was one thing he had learned about Mystic Falls' town events, it was that they were most easily endured when one had alcohol in their system.

Rebekah swept noiselessly into his room, holding a curling iron in one hand and two different high heeled shoes in the other.

"I approve of your outfit," Rebekah proclaimed. "Your tie doesn't match Caroline's dress, which is a shame, but it will do."

"Thank you, sister, your approval means the world to me," Klaus replied sarcastically.

"I don't have time to deal with your sarcasm!" Rebekah called over her shoulder, already leaving the room.

Klaus walked out of his bathroom and sat in one of the chairs in his bedroom, pouring himself a drink as he went.

He listened, amused, to Rebekah's frantic dance preparations, hearing the blare of her hair dryer, then the popping sound of the snaps on her garment bag being ripped open.

Only a few minutes later, Rebekah popped back in his room, wearing a hot pink dress that, while certainly bright and eye-catching, was far simpler than anything he expected his sister to wear, matching lipstick and nail polish, and silver high-heeled shoes, with her hair hanging sleek and straight almost to her waist.

"I'm leaving now, tell me how pretty I look," Rebekah commanded.

"You look very pretty, Rebekah," Klaus complied, causing Rebekah to roll her eyes and sigh as she stomped out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door.

Once she was gone, Klaus returned to his musings on Caroline, love, and Valentine's Day, which, since she had announced her plan to organize a dance celebrating the holiday, had all been linked in his mind.

Klaus had never really loved Valentine's Day, but since Caroline did, it seemed like as good a day as any, if not better than most, to tell her that he loved her. In a way, he was grateful that the day gave him an excuse to be more romantic than his "evil" Original Hybrid persona usually allowed. However, he was starting to accept that there was very little, if anything, that he wouldn't do for Caroline, and that included celebrating her favorite holiday.

Klaus loved Caroline, and since Caroline loved Valentine's Day, he was determined to make this the best Valentine's Day she had ever experienced.

~love~

When Caroline arrived home, she had less than two hours to get ready for the dance, pack all of the refreshments in her car, and give herself a pep talk so that she wouldn't chicken out of telling Klaus she loved him at the Valentine's Day dance that night.

Her last task would be the most time consuming, since she was both nervous about confessing her feelings, and unsure of how she could make a romantic gesture that could even begin to compare to all that Klaus had done for her that day.

Caroline made a mental checklist of all the things she needed to do to get ready. She had laid out her dress and accessories earlier so she didn't have to dig through her closet for them, she'd painted her nails with a pale pink pearl polish to match her dress the night before because she'd known she wouldn't have time now, and she'd curled her hair that morning so she would only have to touch it up later.

Caroline rushed to her bathroom, wrapping each of her ringlets around her curling iron quickly, then pinning them so they would stay in curls as they cooled. Once her hair was set, Caroline put on her light pink lace dress, matching pumps, and pink pearl costume jewelry to complete her Valentine's Day look. Caroline surveyed her outfit, wondering if two bracelets on each wrist, two necklaces, and chandelier earrings might be too much, then decided that if there was one day a year she could go a little overboard with her faux pink pearls, it was Valentine's Day.

Satisfied with her outfit, Caroline then touched up her makeup, adding a little more pink shimmery eye shadow and sparkly pink lip gloss. Then she took down her hair, fluffing her curls before twisting one side back using an oversized pink heart-shaped hair clip that matched her dress. Impulsively, Caroline grabbed two pink roses from one of the bouquets still on her kitchen table and used the hair clip to pin them into her hair as well.

Once she was finished, Caroline stood up straight into her cheer captain posture and stared at herself in the mirror.

"Come on Caroline, you can do this. All you have to do, is say 'I love you.' See? That wasn't so hard, was it? You just have to do that again, in front of Klaus. It will be fine. It's Valentine's Day, today is all about love, and you've planned a whole dance for it, and you have a heart in your hair! It can be a symbol for how Klaus metaphorically gave you his heart earlier today! Really, there's no need to worry about being rejected here, you already know that he loves you, so just tell him you love him too! It will make his whole life! Well, maybe not his whole life, because that's a really long time, but still. I wish that there would be some champagne at this thing, then I can say something about that being our thing, plus alcohol lowers your inhibitions, so I wouldn't be as nervous. Please let someone spike the punch," Caroline rambled to herself.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," another voice responded, which startled Caroline, since she thought she was alone in the house.

"Hi Mom! How much of that did you hear, exactly?" Caroline asked.

"Just the part about you hoping for underage drinking," Liz answered. "You can start by explaining that, or you can start by explaining why there is a mountain of roses on the kitchen table."

"The roses are a Valentine's gift from Klaus," Caroline stated promptly. "There were fourteen dozen, but we used two dozen as decorations for the dance tonight, and I gave two dozen more away throughout the day, but there are ten dozen more on the table."

"Fourteen dozen? That's insane." Liz reacted. "He really loves you."

"That's what he said," Caroline confirmed.

"And you love him, too," Liz stated matter-of-factly. "I can tell. Your eyes are sparkling, and your smile is bigger, too. You should tell him. If he loves you this much, you don't need to be nervous. And you don't need alcohol," Liz said.

"Thanks, Mom," Caroline hugged Liz. "I should go. I still have to set up the food."

"Have fun, sweetie," Liz said. "I'll see if I can find some vases for all of your flowers."

Caroline packed all of the food and drinks into the trunk of her car, then started off towards the school. She realized on the way that even though her conversation with her mother had helped to settle her nerves, she didn't have a plan for how she would tell Klaus she loved him. Stopped at a red light, she tapped the bottom to turn on the radio with her thumb, catching the end of a very familiar song. As the radio deejay started talking about their Valentine's Day love songs playlist, Caroline knew she had her plan. And all she would have to do was make a small request from the deejay working at the dance tonight. She probably wouldn't even have to compel him.

Walking into the gym, Caroline held her head high, determined to make this the best Valentine's Day of both of their lives.

~love~

Klaus approached the Mystic Falls High School gym, already able to hear the cheesy love song that the deejay Rebekah had compelled was playing. In the hallway, students, most of whom had followed the suggested dress code and worn pink, red, or white, lingered and chatted with friends. Klaus paused at the door, where a sign that read "Happy Valentine's Day" in pink script decorated with little hearts hung, then walked through the curtain of shiny pink metallic hearts that just two days ago had been hanging in his own dining room.

As he stepped into the gym, Klaus took a moment to appreciate all of the work Caroline, with Rebekah's help, had put into organizing this event. Compared to the Decade Dances he had attended, the decorations were much more extensive, and he credited a combination of Caroline's love for Valentine's Day, Caroline throwing herself into her extracurricular activities as a means of distraction and a sort of second lease on life after her most recent near-death experience, and his sister's shameless compulsion for the extravagance before him.

The entire gymnasium was pink. The walls were covered in light pink paper, decorated with hearts stenciled in darker pink paint and lace doilies that had come from the frilliest, cheesiest Valentine's card in history, or else had been borrowed from someone's grandmother's kitchen. Small, round tables populated one side of the room, all covered in pink tablecloths, with a single pale pink rose in a pink plastic vase as a centerpiece, a few of the small, pink heart-shaped candles Caroline had asked his opinion on, and a heart-shaped card welcoming students to the dance and wishing them a happy Valentine's Day at each place setting. Looking up, he saw a pink heart-shaped disco ball hanging over the center of the dance floor and pink heart-shaped spotlights mounted in the corners of the ceiling. Pink heart-shaped fairy lights hung from the ceiling, as well as on all of the tables. Glittery heart-shaped confetti had been seemingly haphazardly (though if he knew Caroline at all, he knew that nothing about the organization of this dance had been haphazard) and liberally tossed on every flat surface in the room. On a longer table in the corner of the room, he spotted a punch bowl filled with a shockingly pink beverage that threatened to give him cavities from across the room, so many cupcakes that he wondered if there was any pink food coloring left in Mystic Falls, and a wide array of seasonal candy, that, like everything else on the table and in the gym, was in the shape of a heart. If Caroline's goal was to make everyone at the dance feel as if they were standing inside a giant valentine, then she had succeeded with flying colors.

Caroline herself stood at the center of the production she'd created, wearing a sweet cotton candy pink lace dress that swung around her knees as she spun to examine her work from all angles and seemed to shimmer under the lights in the gym. Strings of pinks pearls circled her wrists and her throat, matching the ones that dangled from her ears, and he sincerely hoped that they were real. If it were up to him, she would never wear cheap costume jewelry again. Only the finest for his—

"Nik!" Another blonde vampire in a pink dress called to him as she approached.

Klaus quickly recovered from his momentary annoyance that she wasn't the object of his affection when he saw the genuinely happy smile on his little sister's face.

"What do you think of our finished product? I'm so pleased with how everything turned out!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"It looks wonderful, Rebekah. You and Caroline did a great job," Klaus praised.

"While I hate to admit it, most of this was her idea. I only added a few things. And compelled all of it, of course. Caroline's a bit squeamish about compulsion," Rebekah explained. "But she isn't that bad really, at least not as bad as I thought she was. She was practically tolerable after a while."

Knowing "practically tolerable" was among the highest praise Rebekah ever gave the people she knew, Klaus considered her comments a victory.

"So is-what did you call yourselves again? Oh yes, 'Team Barbie'-going to work together again in the future?" Klaus asked.

"Yes. I will help her plan your wedding," Rebekah answered.

Klaus shot his sister a quizzical, disgruntled look.

"What? I know how you love her, and she's good for you. You could do a lot worse. And as far as sisters-in-law go, she's probably the best I could hope for, since it would take a saint to put up with you," Rebekah responded.

"No one is getting married any time soon, Rebekah," Klaus insisted.

"You say that now," Rebekah taunted. "Go talk to her, I have to mingle and take credit for organizing this dance."

Rebekah skipped off, leaving Klaus looking for Caroline across the crowded gym.

When Klaus found her, she was talking to the deejay on the other end of the dance floor. He tried to hear what they were talking about, but they must have been at the end of their conversation, because he just heard her say "thank you" and walk away.

As she walked, Caroline noticed him and walked over to where he stood.

Caroline looked heart-achingly beautiful up close. She had looked beautiful when he had seen her earlier that day, and just a few minutes ago from a distance, but Klaus was awestruck at her beauty now that she stood before him. Her eyes were a little brighter, with a little more pink shimmer shading her eyelids and thicker eyelashes, her lips shinier as well, implying that she had touched up her makeup when she had gone home to change. Her hair was a touch curlier as well, pinned away from her face on the side with more of her hair using a large pink heart-shaped clip, bigger and fancier looking than the barrette she had been wearing earlier. Klaus was quite pleased to see that she had pinned a couple of the roses he had sent to her this morning in her hair as well. Up close, he could see that Caroline's pink pearl jewelry was, in fact, fake, and resolved to replace it all with genuine gemstones as soon as he could. All in all, he had never seen anyone look as beautiful, elegant, and festive as Caroline looked right now.

"So, what do you think?" she asked shyly, and it took Klaus a moment to realize that she was referring to the dance, not her own appearance.

"You did wonderfully, sweetheart. This will surely be a memorable Valentine's Day for Mystic Falls for quite some time," Klaus told her.

"Well, Rebekah helped a lot, I couldn't have done it without her. And all of the other committee members were a huge help, too. And you helped, so thank you for your help," Caroline said.

"You're very welcome, love. But you should take credit for this. Rebekah admitted that most of this was your work," Klaus pointed out.

"Really?" Caroline asked, surprised.

"Yes, I think Rebekah concedes that she underestimated you. I'm fairly certain she even considers you a friend, not that she has many of those," Klaus teased.

"I'm glad we're friends," Caroline said, presumably referring to herself and Rebekah, but Klaus couldn't help but wonder if she had been trying to subtly let him down easy.

"Would you like to dance, love?" Klaus asked, holding out his hand.

Caroline looked nervous, glancing around the room and across the dance floor.

"Can I have a cupcake first?" Caroline requested sweetly, taking his hand and turning towards the food table.

"Whatever you'd like, sweetheart. This is your party, after all," Klaus answered.

He expected Caroline to let go of his hand now that she'd gotten what she wanted, but instead she laced her fingers through his and wrapped her other hand around his wrist as she led him over to the table.

She took a pink plastic cup and filled it with the strawberry soda from the punch bowl, then took one of the cupcakes from the tower and placed it on a pink Valentine's Day themed paper plate that she and Rebekah had picked up at the party supply store in packages of a hundred. She asked Klaus if he wanted any of the snacks, but he politely declined. They sat at one of the tables Caroline had decorated earlier, with one of the roses Klaus had given her sitting in a vase Rebekah had procured.

"You are seriously missing out on my outstanding baking skills," Caroline boasted, halfway through eating her cupcake.

Klaus laughed.

"Sorry, love. I'm sure the cupcakes you baked are delightful. I just have made a habit of not eating dyed pink food, and it's served me well over the centuries."

"Well, I always jump at the chance to eat dyed pink food. These cupcakes, cotton candy, pink Starburst,-because everyone knows those are the best ones-, all of this Valentine's Day candy, and Peeps at Easter! We'll just have agree to disagree on this one, because I am fun and festive, and you are old," Caroline concluded.

"All right, Caroline, enjoy your pink food," Klaus sighed.

They sat at the table and talked for almost an hour, with both of them laughing most of the time. They were greatly enjoying each other's company and never had to endure and uncomfortable topic or an awkward silence. The only breaks in the conversation occurred when a student would approach them to compliment Caroline on the dance, and every time she would graciously accept their praise and insist they give Rebekah credit for her help.

"You were right about this, you know," Caroline said. "I did just need a distraction to forget about Tyler and the cure. He left two weeks ago, and after the first few days, I haven't really thought about him much, except to hope that he's safe, wherever he is. I still miss him, of course, but I'm not feeling the despair I thought I would the night he left. And I've been so busy with the dance that no one has told me or Rebekah anything about how the search for the cure is going. So thank you, for suggesting I do this."

"I didn't do anything, love. I made a passing comment; you're the one who turned it into a meaningful project that kept you focused on doing something good for your classmates and keeping Rebekah safe and immortal, while distracting yourself from the things you didn't want to dwell on. I'm very proud of you, sweetheart," Klaus complimented.

~love~

Caroline could feel herself start to tear up, overwhelmed by just how much Klaus loved her. She was still waiting for the deejay's cue to put her plan to tell Klaus that she loved him too in motion, but after he told her he was proud of her for recovering from Tyler leaving, she felt that she just couldn't wait any longer.

An upbeat pop song by a boy band asking permission to kiss a girl they liked was just finishing up, so Caroline decided to start her plan a little early.

"We are at a dance, that I planned, and we haven't even danced yet! Come on!" Caroline pulled Klaus onto the dance floor.

Caroline was prepared to have to assist Klaus with an impromptu crash course in dancing to modern pop songs, so she was surprised when the song the deejay played next was a romantic ballad she loved, "La Vie en Rose."

"I love this song!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Me, too," Klaus said, wrapping his arms around her waist to form a proper dance frame.

Caroline wrapped her arms around Klaus's neck and swayed against him to the beat of the song.

Though she was sure he was a skilled dancer, Klaus made no attempt to maintain a proper dance frame, content to sway along like everyone else was.

"Speaking of rose, my mom is frantically searching for vases to keep your roses in," Caroline mentioned. "I think I'm going to try to take a couple of the pink plastic ones Rebekah found for decorations to keep some in my room. We're going to have roses everywhere, all over the house! The whole house is going to smell like roses for months!" Caroline laughed.

"I think you know I'm not going to apologize for that, sweetheart. I gave you a gift in the hopes that you would enjoy it, which you told me earlier today that you did. Therefore, I don't think that I've done anything wrong," Klaus reasoned.

"I do enjoy the gift, I promise, I just don't want to inconvenience my mom is all," Caroline explained.

"I can't imagine that after everything you've been through, that your mother would be at all annoyed by you receiving a heartfelt token of affection," Klaus said.

"Fourteen dozen roses is a lot more than 'a heartfelt token of affection,'" Caroline countered. "I think hiring a skywriter may have been more subtle."

"I'll remember that for next time," Klaus responded wryly.

"I told you earlier, sweetheart, I love you with all my heart and I will not hesitate to show you how much I love you," Klaus vowed.

Caroline's response was to hug him tighter, just as she had when he caught her after she fell from the ladder. She was pleasantly surprised by how open and forthcoming Klaus was being about his feelings for her. She wanted to record his sweet, heartfelt declarations of love and show them to her friends, as proof that he was capable of real feelings, and that he was being sincere when he said he had feelings for her, but she also wanted to keep this intimate moment all to herself. Caroline was just about to confess her feelings, with or without the perfect song in the background, when the final notes of "La Vie en Rose" faded out.

"Would you like to stay and dance to the next song, or would you like to sit back down?" Klaus asked.

Caroline was torn. She had wanted to tell him while they were dancing, but it would be difficult to have a serious, heartfelt conversation during a loud song, surrounded by groups of students dancing and laughing.

Then she heard the familiar opening notes of the song she had requested the deejay play for her at some time during the night. She hadn't wanted it to be planned and seem forced, and she certainly hadn't wanted to spend the entire night staring at the clock and waiting, getting more and more anxious as time passed. So she had told the deejay to surprise her, and not to tell her when he was going to play the song. Their song.

"We have to dance to this song, this is our song! This is the first song we ever danced to together at the ball your family hosted, remember?" Caroline chattered excitedly over the first lines of Ed Sheeran's "Give me Love." Their song.

"Of course I remember, my love. I just never thought I would see the day when I was part of a relationship that had a song. You were a queen that night, so beautiful and majestic, and I was at the mercy of your whims. I wanted so desperately to impress you, to show you that I cared about you and I wasn't the monster you thought I was. And you saw through every façade I've worn for a thousand years in just a few minutes, all of the lies and all of the secrets were no match for your light and compassion. You told me what I needed to hear when I wouldn't have listened to it from anyone else, and that's when I knew that I would love you and need you with me forever," Klaus confessed.

"I love you," Caroline said, her eyes never moving from Klaus's face, watching the pure love he felt for her reflected there, just as she was sure that he could see her love for him in her own eyes.

"How can you say that?" Klaus asked, visibly awestruck.

Caroline took a deep breath.

"It's true. I love you. I've tried to stop it, and hide it for so long, but I just can't anymore. You have always treated me like I was so valuable to you, like I was deserving of everything I wanted. No one else has ever treated me like I was their first choice, like I was the person they loved more than anyone else, except you. You've made me feel like if I was with you, you would treat me like a queen, and I've come to the conclusion that that is what I want. I want the whole world that's out there waiting for me, and I want you to take me everywhere I've never been and everywhere I want to go," Caroline told him.

Caroline watched Klaus's face, waiting for him to say something in response. Their song was still playing, and they were still swaying to the music, too caught up in their conversation to attempt the formal waltz from the last time they danced to this song.

The more time passed without Klaus saying something, the more nervous Caroline got.

"And I'm sorry that I don't have a grand romantic gesture, like you did with the roses, or your pretty, romantic speeches, so I understand if you feel sort of let down right now, but I did request this song, because it's our song, and—"

"Caroline, my love," Klaus interrupted. "I could not possibly feel let down right now. Sweetheart, your love is the greatest gift I have ever received."

Caroline's entire body flooded with relief. Telling Klaus that she loved him, and knowing that he loved her in return made her feel completely content in a way she'd never felt before, like her heart had finally found its home.

"Really?" Caroline asked. "So that whole speech was okay? I didn't just humiliate myself for the rest of my immortal life?"

"No, sweetheart. What you have done is made me the happiest I've been in my entire life," Klaus said. "And you will be."

"I will be what?" Caroline asked.

"Queen," he answered. "My queen. And you will rule beside me and you will be the most benevolent, beloved queen the world has ever known. I will take you to see the world, everything you want to see. You will love the world we live in and all that it has to offer, and the world will love you in return."

Caroline couldn't think of any response that could sufficiently express how much she wanted the life he had planned for them and how much she loved him, so she kissed him instead.

Caroline knew conceptually that Klaus would have to be a fantastic kisser after one thousand years, giving him plenty of time to practice, but she could never have predicted just how much she loved kissing him. The way he kissed her was lovely and gentle, like he was scared she would shatter like glass in his arms if he was too harsh, yet also passionate and possessive, as if he was trying to ensure that she would never want to kiss anyone except him ever again.

When they finally broke apart, both of them were smiling. Klaus took Caroline's hand and led her off the dance floor as a faster song started playing. They sat down at the same table they had been sitting at before, their hands still intertwined.

Caroline looked at Klaus, sitting across the table from her, and started laughing.

"What's so funny, sweetheart?" Klaus asked.

"I can't believe this is real! I mean, we're together now! And our anniversary is Valentine's Day, so you have no excuse to forget it, but don't think we're going to have one celebration and say it's for both," Caroline ordered.

"As you wish, my love," Klaus said.

"If someone had told me two weeks ago that I would admit that I was in love with you on Valentine's Day, I would have thought they were insane, but that is exactly what happened and I couldn't be happier," Caroline said.

"I wish I could agree with you, but every time I think I can't possibly be any happier, you do something that pushes the limits of my happiness even more. Like telling me that you love me in the middle of the Valentine's Day celebration that you planned with my sister's help," Klaus responded.

Caroline looked at Klaus, who was still holding both of her hands across the table, and saw a sincere smile on his face that showed just how happy he was, knowing that the huge grin that hadn't left her face since she'd told Klaus she loved him conveyed a similar message of incomparable happiness. She'd never seen him so happy before, and the thought that she was the one who had made him happier than he had ever been made her heart so full of love she thought it might spill over.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Klaus," Caroline said softly, gazing around the gymnasium at the production she'd created to celebrate what was now certainly her favorite day of the year. "I love you so much!"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Caroline, my love," Klaus replied. "I love you more than you could possibly imagine."

Then Klaus pulled Caroline from her seat and onto his lap, where he held her close in his arms and gazed down at her lovingly, until Caroline wrapped her arms around his neck and he leaned forward to kiss her again, as all around them, everyone in the room continued to celebrate love.

* * *

Thank you very much for reading!

I hope that you enjoyed the first two parts of the story!

I know that the end of this part seemed like it could be the end of the story, but there's still one more part to go.

I would love to know what you thought, so please leave a review; I would love to read them!

lots of love,

charlotte xoxo


	3. Part Three: La Vie en Rose

This is the last part, and it also serves as a sort of epilogue for the story. Though the previous part gave us a happy ending for Klaus and Caroline, this part answers some questions that weren't yet resolved at the time.

Songs used again in this chapter are "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran and "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf. The title for this part of the story comes from the Edith Piaf song.

Happy Valentine's Day, again, and happy reading!

* * *

As the queen of New Orleans (not a title she chose for herself, but one that Klaus had insisted on), Caroline had decided it was well within her rights to host a ball to celebrate Valentine's Day at the Mikaelson's mansion.

When she'd first mentioned that she was considering throwing a Valentine's Day celebration to Klaus, he'd simply smiled, kissed her on the cheek, and told her to do whatever made her happy. She asked him later if that was really how he wanted to spend their anniversary, and he kissed her again and told her to do whatever made her happy.

Caroline still loved Valentine's Day, even more now that it was her and Klaus's anniversary. She also knew that even though it conflicted with his all-powerful Hybrid King reputation, Klaus had started to love the holiday too, because it was their anniversary and because of how much she loved it.

She had spent the entire day in the company of sired hybrids (who Klaus had trained to respond to anything she asked of them with "As you wish, Queen Caroline," which had gotten really old, really fast) decorating the mansion.

Normally Caroline was uncomfortable with the idea of using the hybrids, and with very few exceptions, she only used their help to set up for this party.

Klaus told her that the hybrids were to protect her and to help her with anything she might need, but Caroline was still uneasy about asking them for their help, because she knew that Klaus had ordered them to do anything she asked of them.

So to compromise, Caroline was always unfailingly polite to them and only asked for their help when she truly needed it. And she really needed their help with the Valentine's Day party.

They had covered the entire ballroom, where the event would take place, with a layer of light pink silk, then a layer of lighter pink lace, then added pink fabric hearts on top of that. There were round tables placed around the far edge of the room, covered with shimmery pink tablecloths and heart-shaped confetti scattered across them. She hung gold chandeliers with pink heart-shaped jewels from the beams on the ceiling, but she couldn't resist reusing the pink heart-shaped disco ball, hanging that above the center of the room, and the pink heart-shaped spotlights in the corners. She'd placed light pink roses in translucent pink vases on each of the tables, purposely using fourteen dozen of them to match the number that Klaus had sent her on their first Valentine's Day together. There was pink heart-shaped confetti liberally scattered across the room, and Caroline hung a sign that read "Happy Valentine's Day" in pink script decorated with little pink hearts and strings of shiny light pink metallic hearts from the entryway of the room.

Compared to the first Valentine's Day dance she had planned, this one was far more impressive, and not just because the ballroom of the Mikaelson's mansion was far more impressive than the Mystic Falls High School gym. If Caroline had tried to execute all of the decorations necessary to match the picture in her head of what her dream Valentine's Day and anniversary party would look like on her own, it would have taken her weeks, so she was reluctantly grateful for the hybrids' help.

For herself, Caroline had decided to surprise Klaus by wearing the same light cotton candy pink lace dress and matching high heels that she had worn to the first Valentine's Day dance she had organized, where she had told him she loved him for the first time. Everything about her outfit was the same as that night, from the shimmery pink makeup and pink pearl nail polish, to the oversized pink heart-shaped hair clip that matched her dress and pink roses in her hair, except for one detail: this time around, the two strands of pink pearls around her neck and each of her wrists, as well as her dangly pink pearl earrings, were real.

She stood in the center of the room, taking in all of her handiwork. The entire ballroom was pink, and it looked almost identical to the Valentine's Day dance she had planned, just as festive, yet more elegant and upscale. She was proud of the end result of her planning, which she had done entirely on her own. Rebekah hadn't helped her this year because she had decided to travel to New York, London, Milan, and Paris for all of their fashion weeks. When Caroline told Rebekah that she was planning an event for Valentine's Day, Rebekah had shared some ideas over the phone, but otherwise left Caroline to decide over how to celebrate her favorite holiday and important anniversary.

~love~

Over the past century, Caroline and Rebekah had become best friends, closer to sisters than sisters-in-law. As she had promised Klaus, Rebekah had helped plan Klaus and Caroline's wedding, which had taken place on Valentine's Day after they had been together for four years.

Caroline's wedding day had been the happiest day of her life. Thanks to Rebekah's planning and Klaus's wealth, combined with their insistence that she have whatever would make her happy, Caroline had felt like a princess on her wedding day. She had never felt more beautiful than when she walked down the aisle, the lacy train of her wedding dress dragging behind her, and Klaus had actually started crying as she came towards him.

For the wedding, Rebekah had essentially recreated the Valentine's Day dance she and Caroline had planned, using light pink roses in Caroline's bouquet and in vases on all of the tables, and "Give me Love" as their wedding song as a tribute to their anniversary, just in a far more elegant fashion. She'd replaced the pink heart-shaped disco ball with gold chandeliers with pink heart-shaped jewels, the pink paper and painted on hearts with pink silk wall coverings, the pink, heart-patterned paper plates with cream-colored china with a thick ring of light pink around the outside and two strands of gold woven together forming the border between the two sections, and Caroline's tower of pink heart-shaped cupcakes with a giant, pink, heart-shaped wedding cake, complete with a wedding cake topper featuring a bride and groom who were both wearing crowns.

Since this Valentine's Day party also celebrated her and Klaus's hundredth anniversary, Caroline had reused the wall coverings and the gold chandeliers with pink heart-shaped jewels that Rebekah had used as wedding decorations. She wanted to make this the best Valentine's Day and anniversary celebration to date, though in her opinion, every year she spent with Klaus was continually better than the last.

Even after one hundred years together, Caroline could still sometimes get overwhelmed by how much she loved Klaus and how much he loved her. What had started as Caroline being collateral damage in Klaus's plans to sire a following of hybrids had led to them spending a century together in love and married.

Caroline had been surprised when Klaus had asked her over dinner one night if she had ever considered getting married. Caroline had always assumed that participating in such a human custom would not be something Klaus would be willing to do, and had decided that she wouldn't mind never getting married, as long as they were together. When she voiced this assumption to Klaus, he told her that he wanted to get married if it was important to her, and he had asked to gauge how much it mattered. Then he added that he actually rather liked the idea of Caroline being his wife: a legal, state-sanctioned designation of how she was the only woman he would ever love, in addition to the title of queen that she had been given when she first arrived in New Orleans with him.

On the Valentine's Day after that conversation, their third anniversary, Klaus had led Caroline into the ballroom, which he had filled with pink roses for her, gotten down on one knee, and asked her to marry him.

He had repeated all of the compliments and reasons that he loved her that he'd given when he told her he loved her for the first time, adding that as much as he loved her then, he loved her more and more every day, then asked her to allow him to love her for the rest of their lives. He hadn't even finished asking the question before Caroline was screaming yes and kneeling down next to him so that she could kiss him.

Remembering his proposal, Caroline idly twisted her engagement ring around her finger. The ring itself was gorgeous and impressive: a large, heart-shaped, pink shaded diamond on delicate yellow gold band, with "my love, my queen" engraved on the inside. Was it cheesy? Yes. Did she love it anyway? Also yes. The wedding bands they had exchanged as they said their vows matched her engagement ring: yellow gold bands with small pink shaded diamonds set all the way around. Her rings looked beautiful together, and she loved seeing them on her hand, almost as much as she loved seeing Klaus wearing his; a solid, tangible reminder to her and to the rest of the world that they would be together for the rest of their immortal lives.

~love~

Caroline was jolted out of her reverie by the sound of someone approaching. She looked over her shoulder to see her husband walking towards her, surveying the decorations she had chosen. She watched as Klaus's face lit up when he saw her, as it always did. She knew that he'd noticed her before he noticed the decorations, but he still looked over the decorations first, knowing how much this event meant to Caroline.

He had obviously had the same idea that she had with regards to wardrobe, because he was wearing the same suit that he had worn to the Valentine's Day dance. Caroline loved when Klaus seemed to read her mind, and think exactly the same as she did, even when it was something as simple as matching outfits.

"There you are, my love. You look beautiful," Klaus complimented, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "And the room looks wonderful as well. A combination of your Valentine's Day dance and our wedding. Very festive."

"Thank you, I just finished with the decorations. Your hybrids were very helpful," Caroline said.

"They have orders to assist you, whatever it is you may need. And considering how marvelous the ballroom looks, you clearly did a magnificent job ordering them around," Klaus replied.

"You really like it?" Caroline asked, taking his hand and twirling to face him.

Klaus's opinion always meant a lot to Caroline, especially when it came to this party, since he'd been so enthusiastic about the first Valentine's Day celebration that she'd planned.

"Yes, I really like it, but what's more important is that you really like it," Klaus told her.

"Well, I like it, too," Caroline said.

"When are the guests scheduled to start arriving?" Klaus asked.

Caroline checked her watch, a gift from Klaus on their fiftieth anniversary. It was gold with pink shaded diamonds like on her engagement ring and their wedding bands circling the watch face.

"We have about an hour," Caroline informed him.

Klaus led Caroline out of the ballroom and into the living room, sitting down on a couch and settling Caroline on his lap. Caroline craned her neck to look back into the ballroom, loving how her festive pink Valentine's Day decorations looked against the warm cream, gold, and blush color scheme that appeared throughout the rest of the house.

"Are you excited for the party tonight, my love?" Klaus asked.

"Of course! Aren't you?" Caroline asked.

Klaus still wasn't exactly a social butterfly like Caroline was, and as the king of the city, he could usually avoid most social events. Caroline knew this, but she also knew that if she batted her eyelashes and said please, Klaus would do whatever she asked of him. To that end, they had long since agreed on a compromise: Caroline could only use her powers of persuasion to convince Klaus to attend events that really mattered to her.

"I am excited to hold you, and to dance with you, and to show you off to all of our kingdom," Klaus told her.

"So you're selectively excited for the party," Caroline teased.

Klaus chuckled.

"Whatever you say, my love," he agreed.

"Is Elijah coming to the party?" Caroline asked.

Klaus's remaining living siblings had moved with them to New Orleans, and while they technically lived with them, they both often left on their own travels. Rebekah had left for New York a few days before, but because she and Rebekah were best friends, they always shared their itineraries with each other. Caroline often didn't know that Elijah had left the country until she hadn't seen him for a few days.

""I know he usually tries to make an appearance at your parties, but I'm afraid he won't be here, I'm sorry, love," " Klaus said. "He's in Athens with the doppelganger."

"Of course he's conveniently out of the country on Valentine's Day, again," Caroline complained.

"He sent his regrets that he couldn't be here," Klaus continued.

While Caroline truly did like Elijah, she often felt that he didn't think that a bubbly blonde teenager was good enough for his brother. Caroline worried that, while she'd felt that Rebekah had become the sister she'd always wanted and Elijah the older brother she'd never had, to Elijah she was just the girl his brother loved and added nothing to his already complex family life.

Knowing where Caroline's thoughts were headed, Klaus quickly intervened.

"Elijah adores you," Klaus told her. "He said just the other say that he thinks you're the greatest thing that ever happened to me. This isn't the first of your parties that he's missed in a hundred years. His decision to spend his Valentine's Day on vacation with the woman he loves does not in any way reduce how much he cares about you."

"He really said that?" Caroline asked, grinning.

"Yes, my love," Klaus assured her. "My siblings have always been incredibly supportive of our relationship, which is more than I can say for most of your friends from Mystic Falls."

~love~

When Caroline announced to her friends that she was in love with Klaus and they were now in a committed romantic relationship, suffice it to say that they weren't very happy about it.

Elena had felt betrayed that Caroline would ever consider being in a relationship with the person who had killed her Aunt Jenna, taken Stefan away from her, and used her blood in a sacrifice to allow him to unlock his werewolf side. Caroline assured Elena that she neither condoned nor apologized for those actions, but that she knew Klaus better than Elena did, and knew that he wasn't a mindlessly bloodthirsty villain like Elena thought he was. Caroline also reminded her friend that she hadn't taken Caroline's opinion into account when she'd started her relationship with Damon even after all of the ways that he'd hurt Caroline.

Bonnie had felt betrayed on a moral level: she considered herself and her friends the good guys, which made the Originals the bad guys. She saw Caroline's relationship with Klaus as her friend fraternizing with the enemy. Caroline had, as gently as possible, reminded her friend that vampires had to live by a different moral code than humans and witches did as a natural consequence of having to drink blood to survive, and that every vampire she knew had killed someone, from Caroline's loss of control on her first night as a vampire, to Stefan's Ripper periods, to Damon's general lack of consideration to human lives throughout his existence.

Stefan, likely because of his own past relationship with Klaus, had been grudgingly accepting of the news. After making Caroline promise that this was what she wanted and that Klaus made her happy, Stefan threatened Klaus with a cliché older brother promise to make his life miserable if he ever hurt Caroline. Klaus had taken the threat in stride, promising Stefan that he loved Caroline and would never hurt her.

Damon offered a snarky comment about Caroline taking advantage of Klaus's thousand years of experience, leading to Klaus snapping Damon's neck and leaving him unceremoniously on the living room floor of the Salvatore boarding house.

Matt was still wary of Klaus, and all of the remaining Originals, so he remained quiet when it came time to express disapproval. He certainly wasn't thrilled about his friend being in a relationship with a thousand-year-old vampire, but he hadn't been thrilled about Caroline becoming a vampire either, and he'd learned to accept that, and had even come to acknowledge that Caroline was happier as she was now. In addition, Rebekah's obvious interest in him made him feel that it would be hypocritical of him to tell Caroline she couldn't return Klaus's even more obvious romantic interest in her. He simply smiled at Caroline and told her that he hoped she was happy.

After telling Caroline's friends, telling her mother, who had already acknowledged Klaus and Caroline's feelings for each other, was relatively easy. She had, like Stefan, threatened Klaus with bodily harm if he ever hurt Caroline, but was otherwise pleased to see her daughter so happy and the greatest threat to the town's safety doting on her and hanging on her every word. Mystic Falls had never been safer than after Klaus and Caroline were together and Klaus had a vested interest in making sure that everyone Caroline knew and loved were safe and happy. Liz had proudly walked Caroline down the aisle at her wedding, and had happily spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with Caroline and Klaus every year until she'd passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 96.

Liz was the only person from Mystic Falls that they had kept in regular contact with after they moved to New Orleans. Elena and Bonnie hadn't accepted their relationship for years. They had only come to the wedding after Caroline had guilted them into it by reminding them that they'd been friends for years and that they'd all agreed to be each other's bridesmaids in elementary school. Even after the wedding, decades passed before Elena and Bonnie were completely sure that Klaus was genuinely in love with Caroline and wasn't using her to get to Elena or serve some other agenda, and even longer for them to be completely comfortable with Klaus and Caroline's relationship.

They heard from Stefan periodically, and they exchanged Christmas cards every year, but he visited less frequently, preferring to stay in Mystic Falls with Damon most of the time, though his trips to New Orleans had increased in recent years. They'd never really considered Damon a friend, especially not after Caroline told Klaus how he'd abused her when she'd still been human. She managed to convince Klaus not to kill Damon for Elena and Stefan's sake, but it had been a challenge. Caroline knew, intellectually, that Klaus wouldn't allow Damon to go unpunished after hurting her, but she didn't know exactly what Klaus had done in retaliation. Neither Klaus, Damon, Stefan, nor Elena had ever told her what Klaus had done, and she'd never asked, not wanting to know what Klaus's punishment was for abusing the love of his life.

Matt had drifted apart from all of them after a while, wanting to keep his distance from the supernatural as much as possible, but they'd remained in contact for several years before he settled down with a family of his own, giving Caroline a window into the human life she'd left behind in Mystic Falls.

~love~

Caroline was sitting on Klaus's lap, playing with one of the strands of pink pearls around her neck, and she couldn't remember ever feeling more content.

"We should probably get ready to start greeting our guests soon," Klaus reminded her.

"Do I have to? I'm really comfortable," Caroline whined, taking Klaus's hand.

"You can do whatever you'd like, my love, it's your party," Klaus said, lifting their joined hands to place a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Alright, I'm getting up," Caroline said, standing and smoothing out her dress. "You know that your 'Caroline, you're the queen and everyone in the whole world exists to serve you' attitude always makes me productive."

"You would think that after a century together I would know what motivates you," Klaus replied.

When Klaus made comments like that about how long they had been together, Caroline was struck by how different their perspectives on the length of their relationship must be. At the start of their relationship, Caroline had been eighteen years old, and a vampire for less than a year. Klaus, however, had been alive for over a thousand years. For Caroline, she had been with Klaus over five times as long as she hadn't. She had loved Klaus for one hundred years of her one-hundred-and-eighteen-year life, and she could no longer remember or imagine what it would be like to not love him. In contrast, their century-long relationship was only a tenth of Klaus's lifetime. Though Caroline had no doubts about her importance in his life (Klaus had made certain of that), she still sometimes felt that he would never truly be able to understand the impact he had made in her life.

"Can you believe that? Can you believe that we've been together for an entire century?" Caroline wondered. "I've been alive for 118 years, and I've loved you for 100 of them. I don't even remember what not loving you feels like."

Klaus pulled Caroline into his arms and held her close.

"Loving you with all my heart, Caroline, has made this past century the happiest of my life, without a doubt. You, my love, have made me so much happier over the last hundred years, than I could have ever imagined that I would be in the nine hundred years that preceded them," Klaus told her. "I most certainly can believe that we've been together for an entire century. You brought love and light into my dark, desolate world. How could I not remember the exact moment that the sun finally rose after nine hundred years of dark, moonless nights?"

"You need to stop saying things that will make me cry and ruin my makeup before the party even starts, and we need to start greeting our guests," Caroline ordered.

"Yes, my love," Klaus agreed.

Like the hybrids, Klaus would do whatever Caroline ordered him to. Unlike the hybrids, Caroline felt no guilt whatsoever about ordering him around.

Klaus stood and took Caroline's hand, leading her to their foyer.

They only had to wait for a few minutes before guests started to arrive. When Caroline led them into the ballroom, they all complimented her on the decorations, the food, the music, and while Caroline appreciated their kind words, she never knew whether or not they were sincere, since she had long since given up on trying to determine whether the residents of New Orleans were offering genuine praise or if they were scared of what Klaus might do if he felt she wasn't being properly appreciated.

She made polite small talk with all of them, accepting their compliments graciously and offering compliments of her own, exchanging pleasantries and polite inquiries about each other's families. Many of the guests Caroline had gotten to know quite well after all of the parties they had attended over the years, so she was familiar and friendly with many of them.

Klaus had been right in his conclusion that while he was the strict king that maintained order, she was the beloved queen who everyone in the city adored. Throughout the years, guests to their parties always felt more comfortable with her than Klaus, but they still never fully let their guard down enough to treat her as they would a friend.

Caroline knew that it was probably strange that the person she considered her best friend was also her sister-in-law, but there was no one else in New Orleans (with the exception of her husband, of course) that she was closer to than Rebekah. To the people of New Orleans, she was their queen, not their friend, no matter how much of an effort Caroline put in to being as friendly as she possibly could. And after a hundred years, most of her friends from Mystic Falls were gone: the humans passing away after long, full lives; and the vampires forced to move on so that no one would notice that they never aged.

Caroline was talking to a couple of vampires who had known Klaus and his family for over two hundred years when Klaus made his way over to the ballroom and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek.

"I thought you would want to know that Stefan has arrived, my love," Klaus told her.

~love~

The end of Caroline's senior year of high school had been dedicated to the search for the cure for vampirism. While Caroline had chosen to distract herself with school and town events, her friends had spent every waking minute planning ways to take the cure from Katherine.

Within a month of taking it from the island, Katherine herself concocted a plan to give Klaus the cure in exchange for her freedom. After consulting with Caroline, who was in favor of allowing Katherine her freedom and was convinced that she'd paid her debt after five hundred years, Klaus agreed to the trade. Klaus had insisted that as part of the arrangement, Katherine had to promise never to plot against or try to harm, Klaus, Caroline, or either of their families.

While getting the cure from Katherine hadn't been a challenge, choosing what to do with the cure had required some consideration.

Thanks in large part to Caroline's strategy and influence, Rebekah had lost interest in the cure, realizing that she could live a meaningful life as a vampire and that she already had a family that she loved and wanted to spend eternity with (though she would never admit it to them) and who loved her in return.

Klaus was adamant that the cure was not to be used as a weapon against anyone who did not want to be human. As it turned out, Elena ended up being the only vampire in Mystic Falls who desperately wanted to be a human, but since Rebekah had neglected to mention to them that she no longer wanted the cure for herself, they didn't know that. Stefan and Bonnie wanted to give the cure to Elena, knowing how much she loathed being a vampire, and supported Elena when she requested the cure from Klaus.

Damon used a different strategy.

Damon, annoyed that Klaus was taking too long to give Elena what she wanted, decided that he would simply steal the cure from Klaus's safe. He hadn't counted on the stringent safety measures that Klaus had in place.

Needless to say, Damon never tried to steal from Klaus again.

Caroline had found out that Elena hadn't approved or even known about Damon's plan, and insisted that Klaus not blame her for Damon's idiocy.

Klaus had eventually agreed to give Elena the cure, but the debate had created an irreparable divide between the vampires of Mystic Falls, with Caroline firmly on Klaus's side and her friends on the other.

Damon made no secret of the fact that he blamed Caroline for the delay in getting Elena the cure, even though she'd been vocally in favor of her friend having the cure if she wanted it. Bonnie and Elena still hadn't come to terms with Caroline's relationship with Klaus, and all three of them felt that Caroline should have used her influence over Klaus to help their cause. Even Stefan, who hadn't been as aggravated with Caroline as the others, had still refused to speak to her for a while.

Once Klaus had given Elena the cure and she'd become human again, Elena had felt cautiously grateful towards Klaus. She appreciated that Klaus had given her the cure, but she was uncomfortable with the idea of Klaus having control over who was able to take the cure. Like Damon, Elena thought that Caroline should have done more to help her get the cure as soon as Katherine handed it over. Elena was also wary that Klaus was remaining in Mystic Falls to stay with Caroline until graduation, and was concerned that Klaus would try to take her blood to make more hybrids. Even when Caroline insisted that she'd asked Klaus not to take any more of Elena's blood and he had agreed, in part because he still had hidden stores of Elena's blood, but mostly because he knew it would make Caroline happy, Elena had still assumed the worst.

The last weeks of the school year lonely and stressful for Caroline, as she completed her schoolwork, planned prom and graduation, and tried to repair her relationships with her friends. Of the entire group, the only one still speaking to her was Matt, who, as the only human, had decided he was unqualified to participate in negotiations for the cure.

When Caroline had shown up to the prom with Klaus as her date, Damon, who was accompanying Elena, and Bonnie had both sent her dirty looks before avoiding her for the entire night. She'd been surprised when Stefan had approached them, apologizing for his brother's and friends' behavior. Pleased that he was taking the initiative to save their friendship, Caroline quickly accepted his apology.

Stefan had fit in nicely with Caroline, Matt, and the Mikaelsons. He and Klaus had made a cautious attempt at friendship, and though they were never again as close as they were in the 1920s, they did get along reasonably well. Stefan again came to rely on Caroline to help him keep his more violent vampire impulses under control, enjoyed a close friendship with Matt, and started a flirtation with Rebekah that always had Caroline wondering if they were in a relationship or not.

Klaus and Caroline had invited Stefan to come with them when they moved to New Orleans, but he had declined, electing to remain in Mystic Falls, mostly to keep an eye on Damon and Elena, though he always made sure to visit Klaus and Caroline in New Orleans for important events and milestones, such as this one.

~love~

"Stefan!" Caroline greeted excitedly as he approached the ballroom.

Caroline was always excited to see Stefan, especially when she hadn't seen him for a while. The last time Caroline had seen Stefan in person was at Christmas two years earlier. He didn't spend every holiday with them, since he spent most holidays with Damon, but he usually tried to coordinate his visits with a holiday.

"Your majesty," Stefan replied, bowing before her and kissing her hand.

"I have been the 'Queen of New Orleans' for almost a hundred years now, and that still isn't funny," Caroline huffed.

"Your reaction is what's funny," Stefan admitted.

Stefan had been mocking Caroline's role as the queen of New Orleans since the first time he visited her and Klaus in New Orleans almost one hundred years earlier, and Caroline had been irritated it for just as long.

"Your lacking sense of humor aside, we're so glad you're here!" Caroline exclaimed.

"I wouldn't miss your one-hundredth anniversary party," Stefan insisted.

Stefan had always been supportive of Klaus and Caroline's relationship, and he'd grown more vocally supportive after Bonnie and Elena had finally accepted their relationship, and in recent years, after their deaths. While Stefan hadn't attended all of Klaus and Caroline's anniversary parties, Caroline knew that he surely wouldn't miss this milestone.

"You look very nice," Caroline complimented.

Stefan was wearing a suit, since everyone in New Orleans knew that Caroline's Valentine's and anniversary parties were formal, festive affairs, with a cream-colored dress shirt and light pink tie.

"Thank you, you look nice, too," Stefan said.

"Thank you!" Caroline replied.

"How are things in Mystic Falls, Stefan?" Klaus inquired.

Klaus and Stefan had maintained their friendship over the last century. Aside from Caroline and his family, Stefan was the person Klaus was closest to, though considering Klaus's interpersonal skills, that wasn't saying very much. Klaus often asked Stefan for updates on any supernatural incidents that he heard about in Mystic Falls.

"Remarkably calm, though that's probably because the Mikaelsons have moved away," Stefan joked. "And I check on your flowers, they still come on schedule."

After her mother's death, Caroline had arranged for flowers-light pink roses like the ones Klaus had sent to her-to be sent to Liz's grave every week. Following Bonnie's and Elena's deaths at their own respective old ages, she started sending the same flowers to their graves as well.

"Where is the rest of the Mikaelson clan, by the way? I would have thought I would have seen Rebekah by now," Stefan wondered.

"They couldn't make it," Caroline explained sadly. "Rebekah is in New York for fashion week, and Elijah is in Greece with Katherine. Obviously I wish they were here, but they made their own plans for Valentine's Day this year, and as much as I would have loved to celebrate this milestone with all of our family, I'm glad that they're doing what makes them happy, even if it means they aren't here."

Stefan looked at Klaus curiously, as if wondering how Klaus allowed something that so made Caroline so obviously unhappy, but Klaus just shook his head in response.

"Let's go inside and get you a drink," Caroline said, acting as the perfect hostess.

"Are you serving that neon pink stuff again?" Stefan complained.

"It's strawberry soda. I like it, it's pink, it's festive, it tastes good, and it's funny to watch vampires wonder why they aren't drunk when they think they've been drinking alcohol all night," Caroline explained.

"I would ask Klaus if he's on my side, but we all know that if you argued that the moon was actually a giant orange in the sky, he would take your side," Stefan lamented.

That was one of Caroline's favorite things about her relationship with Klaus: that he always, unconditionally, took her side in any disagreement or difference of opinion. Klaus loved and believed in Caroline so completely that he always believed that she was right, whatever the circumstances. Caroline had never had anyone else in her life that loved her enough to always defend her and protect her. Klaus always tried to keep Caroline in a protective bubble where none of the violence and bloodshed that took place in the city could reach her. Klaus's first priority, above anything else, was making sure Caroline was safe, happy, and most importantly, loved more than anything else in the world.

"If serving strawberry soda at her Valentine's Day party makes Caroline happy, then that's what I want her to do. I'm fairly certain that doing everything you can to make your wife happy is part of the wedding vows," Klaus replied.

"Perks of being the queen," Caroline cheered, grinning.

~love~

Caroline had fallen in love with New Orleans the moment she had set foot in the city.

Klaus and Caroline, along with Rebekah and Elijah, moved to New Orleans the week after Caroline graduated from high school. They moved into a beautiful mansion that Klaus had ordered to be constructed immediately after Valentine's Day, wanting a new home for his and Caroline's future together. The house was similar to the Mikaelson's mansion in Mystic Falls, but this house was even larger and somehow warmer. When Klaus had shown her the home he had built for them, Caroline was shocked by how opulent it was, with its three stories, dozen bedrooms, library, and ballroom, all already decorated to perfectly suit her tastes.

Klaus had given her a tour of the city; showing the city off to her, and showing her off to the city. Klaus was thrilled that Caroline loved New Orleans so much, so quickly.

Caroline had been a little unnerved when Klaus had started introducing her and referring to her as the queen of the city, and she hadn't fully understood why until Klaus had explained that he had once ruled New Orleans and now wanted to reclaim his role as king.

When Klaus and Caroline arrived in New Orleans, the current king of the city was Klaus's adoptive son Marcel.

When Klaus first introduced Caroline to Marcel, he explained their relationship. Klaus told Caroline about how he had first seen Marcel in the nineteenth century when he had first arrived in New Orleans. Klaus had been so impressed by Marcel's spirit and fortitude, even as he was being viciously tormented, that he took the boy under his wing and raised him as his own.

Klaus had been thrilled to see Marcel, since he had believed his adopted son to have died when Mikael had found Klaus and his siblings in New Orleans nearly two centuries earlier. The Mikaelsons had been forced to flee quickly and leave Marcel behind, much to their chagrin.

Marcel had, for his part, been equally overjoyed to see Klaus, who he had been sure had been killed by Mikael. In his mind, Klaus's death at the hands of his father would have been the only reason why Mikael would have spared Marcel: he had already gotten what he really wanted.

In addition to their excitement over being reunited, Klaus and Marcel were also able to bond over their shared adoration for Caroline.

Though no one could ever love Caroline as much as Klaus did, Marcel quickly grew to love Caroline as well, in a friendly, familial way.

Caroline was glad that she and Marcel were friends first and foremost, before they even considered her role as his adopted father's girlfriend, then fiancée, and eventual wife. Marcel affectionately called Caroline 'queen mother,' which made them both laugh.

Caroline immediately enjoyed spending time with Marcel, his cheerful, exuberant personality making him fun to be around. When Caroline found out the Marcel also enjoyed karaoke, she knew she'd found a friend for life.

Caroline and Klaus spent the summer after Caroline's high school graduation exploring the city and enjoying all that it had to offer.

When autumn arrived, Caroline started at college, having applied to universities in the area in preparation for their move to the city. Between her impeccable grades and her extracurricular activities, she was accepted to all of the colleges and had her pick of which to attend. Caroline had made clear to Klaus that it was important to her to attend college right after high school and graduate in four years to have the traditional college experience, though she looked forward to attending university again multiple times throughout her immortal life to earn degrees in multiple subjects and learn all that she could.

Caroline was able to enjoy a traditional college experience and finish her degree in four years, and she only had to use her supernatural abilities once—when she and Klaus got married on Valentine's Day during her last semester, she missed a significant amount of classes while they were on their honeymoon, so Caroline compelled her professors to give her the class lectures and assignments early and allow her to submit her assignments online rather than in person. Caroline even managed to graduate with honors, and Klaus was so proud of her that he hung her degree in the library and showed it off to all of their guests. Though he never said anything, Caroline knew that it secretly thrilled Klaus that it had been 'Caroline Mikaelson' who had been awarded the certificate.

With Caroline attending classes and studying much of the time, Klaus was left to come up with his own means of entertainment. He settled on refocusing on his original goal of reclaiming his position as king of New Orleans again.

At first, Marcel had easily accepted Klaus's presence in New Orleans, even welcomed as a sort of royal advisor. Over time, however, Klaus grew more and more unsatisfied with being relegated to such a role. He was the king; he wasn't the man the king sought advice from.

It didn't take long for Marcel to pick up on Klaus's frustrations, but that didn't mean that he wanted to relinquish control of New Orleans.

This left the two vampires at an impasse, since both of them wanted to rule the city, but neither wanted to fight the other for it, both because of their affection for each other and because they both adored Caroline and knew that a fight between them would upset her.

When Caroline found out about the conflict, she insisted that they work out a compromise that they were both happy with.

Neither man thought that they could reach a compromise with only one crown, but neither of them wanted to disappoint Caroline, so they stuck it out for several days, achieving nothing and not expecting to.

What really made the decision for them, perhaps ironically, was Caroline herself. The three of them had been walking down Royal Street on their way home from dinner when someone recognized them. The young man, a vampire who couldn't have been turned more than a year earlier, reverently bowed to Caroline, addressing her as queen and complimenting her beauty. Klaus, who despite wanting the entire world to love and worship Caroline, found it irritating when anyone complimented her in front of him, immediately ordered the young vampire to go away. When Klaus addressed him, the vampire bowed to him as well and rapidly scampered away.

Marcel packed his bags the next morning.

"This is your city," Marcel told Klaus before he left. "You built it, you deserve to rule it. And Caroline is your queen. It's time for me to build my own kingdom and find my own queen."

"Might I offer a suggestion?" was Klaus's reply to Marcel's abdication.

Marcel left for Chicago that same day. The supernatural population had only grown since Klaus had roamed the city, but without prohibition putting them all on the same side, petty turf wars and backroom deals were common. According to Klaus, what the city needed was a strong leader, and he knew Marcel was up to the task.

Caroline had cried at Marcel's departure, but he reassured her that he would be fine and that he would keep in touch.

Klaus and Caroline still heard from Marcel at least once a week. He'd called early that morning, before Caroline started setting up for the party, to wish them a happy anniversary, and to apologize for not being able to attend the party that evening, explaining that there had been an uprising of local witches, angry at the city's vampire population, but he'd sent flowers, a bottle of champagne, and a cake, so while Caroline was sad that he wouldn't be there in person, she was reassured that he would at least be there in spirit.

~love~

As had happened every year they had hosted their Valentine's Day party, the crowd applauded when Klaus and Caroline entered the ballroom. The parties were legendary in the city, and everyone who was invited knew how important they were to Caroline, and that anything that was important to Caroline was important to Klaus.

The first song started playing, and all of the party guest stepped back to clear the dance floor so that Klaus and Caroline could share the first dance alone; a tradition from weddings that they'd carried over to their anniversary celebrations.

"Have I told you yet how beautiful you look this evening?" Klaus asked Caroline as he gathered her in his arms and led her in a waltz.

"Several times, but my attitude towards compliments is the more, the better," Caroline said.

"You are so beautiful you almost make my heart stop," Klaus said. "I have no clue as to how I managed to become so fortunate as to earn the love of a person as lovely as you, but I am endlessly grateful for it every day."

"I love you," Caroline said quietly, not having anything to say that would match Klaus's lovely poetic compliments.

"And I love you," Klaus told her.

When the dance ended, Klaus took the microphone from the deejay, grabbed two translucent pink champagne flutes filled with strawberry soda from a nearby table, and then walked back to Caroline standing at the center of the room.

He handed one of the glasses to Caroline, then raised the microphone to give his toast.

"Caroline and I would like to thank you all very much for coming," Klaus started his toast. "Caroline loves Valentine's Day and she wanted to throw a party to celebrate it, and I consider it my life's mission to make sure that Caroline gets whatever her heart desires. This Valentine's Day is especially important to Caroline and me because it is our one-hundredth anniversary. Caroline, my love, I have loved you for a hundred years, and I love you more with every passing second. Being king would mean nothing without you as my queen. Happy anniversary and happy Valentine's Day, Caroline, sweetheart, and happy Valentine's Day everyone, we really appreciate you coming to celebrate with us," Klaus thanked their guests.

Klaus took Caroline's hand and led her to one of the tables. They sat facing the room, watching all of their guests enjoy the party. Klaus lifted their joined hands and placed a kiss on Caroline's palm.

"Every year this party gets more and more amazing," Klaus said. "And you are so impressive for putting this together every year."

"Thank you," Caroline said.

"And I know that before we do anything else, you want to go get one of your pink heart-shaped cupcakes, so let's go get you one," Klaus said.

Klaus and Caroline walked over to the table that Caroline had covered with food, including heart-shaped candies and the pink, strawberry-flavored heart-shaped cupcakes that Caroline made for the party every year.

Then they made their way back to their table, where more guests came up to them and offered Caroline their praise and congratulations on the party. Caroline's smile grew larger with every compliment.

"I love how happy celebrating this occasion makes you. Nothing makes me happier than seeing you so happy," Klaus said.

"You make me happy," Caroline insisted. "You've been making me happy for a hundred years. That's what we're celebrating here."

Caroline was still sometimes overwhelmed by how happy Klaus made her and by how happy Klaus said that he made her.

"And what if I told you that I had a surprise for you that might make you even happier?" Klaus asked.

"I would say that's impossible," Caroline replied.

"Really?" Klaus pressed. "There's nothing you can imagine that could make you any happier?"

"No…" Caroline trailed off suspiciously.

Klaus just smiled in response as Caroline felt a pair of hands reach out and cover her eyes.

"Guess who?" a familiar voice said in Caroline's ear.

"Rebekah!" Caroline exclaimed, pulling Rebekah's hands off of her face and turning around to face her.

"Surprise!" Rebekah cheered.

Rebekah stood next to their table wearing a bright pink dress with a sequined bodice and a glittery tulle skirt and white high-heeled shoes, with her blonde hair swept up in an elegant, sleek ballerina bun. She immediately pulled Caroline into a hug.

"I can't believe you're here! I thought you were in New York!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Yes, I was in New York, I wasn't on the moon," Rebekah laughed. "It's only a few hours away by plane. Did you really think that we would miss your hundredth anniversary party?"

"I'm so happy you're here!" Caroline cheered.

"Wait, did you say we?" Caroline asked.

"Indeed she did," Caroline heard Elijah say behind her.

Caroline whirled around to see Elijah standing next to Katherine on the other side of the table. Katherine was wearing a deep raspberry pink dress that was made to look like someone had wrapped a giant ribbon around her, ending with an oversized bow above her right knee. Her lips were painted a matching dark pink, and her hair was left in her usual wild curls. Elijah was wearing his trademark dark suit, but his tie and pocket square matched Katherine's dress.

"Klaus said that you two were in Greece!" Caroline accused.

"We leave tomorrow," Elijah explained. "But Rebekah had already come up with the idea to surprise you, so we decided to go along with it."

Caroline looked over at Katherine for confirmation.

"You know I love a good party, sunshine," Katherine said. "Of course I wanted to come celebrate one hundred years of Klaus loving you more than he hates me."

Klaus rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't my idea, it was Nik's," Rebekah corrected. "When I left for New York a week ago, he insisted that I come back for the party, and suggested that I keep it a surprise so that Caroline wouldn't spend days feeling guilty that I'd cancelled my plans to be here. I suggested the same thing to you so that Caroline wouldn't have to feel guilty about the three of us cancelling our plans to be here."

"Then I just want to confirm: Marcel really is in Chicago dealing with a witch uprising, right? He wouldn't lie to me about something dangerous like that," Caroline said.

"Sorry, Caroline," Marcel said, walking up to her from behind Elijah and Katherine, clad in a dark grey suit with a blush colored tie. "There actually is no witch uprising."

Caroline looked around at all of her loved ones standing around the table, who had rearranged their plans and surprised her by attending her party, just because her husband had asked them to, because he knew it would make her happy.

"Are you happy, love?" Klaus asked.

Caroline launched herself into his arms and covered his face with kisses.

"I am so happy!" Caroline answered, grinning. "I love you so much! Thank you so much for doing this for me!"

"Anything for you, my love," Klaus replied, making Caroline smile again. "And there's that beautiful smile that makes everything worth it."

"How did you all get past me? I've been in here planning the party all day," Caroline asked.

"We came in the back door and hid out in the library until the party started," Marcel explained. "Klaus's welcome toast was our cue to come find you."

Rebekah, Elijah, Katherine, and Marcel sat down at the table with them. Klaus and Elijah discussed Marcel's reign in Chicago with him, while Caroline and Katherine interrogated Rebekah on what she'd seen so far during fashion week.

They had been talking for a little while when the deejay played Klaus and Caroline's song, immediately putting an end to all conversation at the table. Hearing the first notes of "Give me Love" caused Caroline to scramble out of her seat, grab Klaus's hand, and pull him with her on to the dance floor.

Even after years of dancing to this song, Caroline still never felt happier or more loved than when she was in Klaus's arms, dancing to this song.

Klaus held Caroline close against him as they waltzed across the dance floor, Caroline's skirt whirling behind her as they spun around the room.

Everyone else dancing retreated to the edges of the dance floor, leaving Klaus and Caroline alone in the center, with everyone else twirling around them like in a wedding in a Disney princess movie.

"So, I was thinking that for our hundredth wedding anniversary in four years, we should recreate our month-long honeymoon in Paris," Klaus proposed.

"I would love that!" Caroline exclaimed.

Klaus had taken Caroline to all of the destinations he had promised to on the night of the ball his family had hosted, and to many, many others over the last century, but Paris remained Caroline's favorite. She loved the atmosphere of love and light, the history and culture, the art and fashion. She'd spent days dragging Klaus to all of the tourist destinations she wanted to visit; spending hours in the Louvre, taking in the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower, and even leaving a love lock with their initials written on it on the Pont des Arts.

So when Klaus and Caroline got married, Klaus took charge of planning the honeymoon and took Caroline to Paris for an entire month. Though all of the travel guides that Caroline meticulously studied on the plane said that February and March weren't the best months to visit Paris, they were in the city during Fashion Week and they didn't have to suffer through any rainstorms the entire month they were there.

"That means I won't get to throw a Valentine's Day party that year, though," Caroline lamented.

"Well, if you'd rather stay here and have the party instead…" Klaus started.

"No, of course not! You promised to take me to Paris, now you have to take me to Paris," Caroline exclaimed.

"As you wish, my love," Klaus murmured into Caroline's hair. "Anything for you."

Caroline hummed in contentment and rested her head on Klaus's shoulder, still swaying gently to the music.

"Happy anniversary and Happy Valentine's Day, my love," Klaus told Caroline.

"Happy anniversary and Happy Valentine's Day to you, too," Caroline replied.

As their song continued playing, Caroline looked around the room at the celebration of love that she'd managed to assemble, a whirlwind of pink as Klaus continued to twirl her around the dance floor, and as she did every year, Caroline felt overwhelmed with love-for her husband, for their family, for their friends-for everyone who gave her this opportunity to celebrate love on this day every year, until she looked into Klaus's eyes once more and smiled, knowing that her heart would rest safely forever in the hands of the man she would always love.

* * *

Thank you so very much for reading this story!

Thank you so very much for allowing me to share my love of Klaroline and Valentine's Day with you!

I hope that you loved reading this story as much as I loved writing it!

For the last time for this story, I would love to know what you thought, so please leave me a review, I would love to read them!

Happy Valentine's Day, my lovely valentines!

lots of love,

charlotte xoxo


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